Lynne Peeples

But how our body responds to light is also affecting how these clocks align with a 24-hour day. But there's not just early birds and night owls. There's a full spectrum that goes to pretty great extremes. Different genetics can predispose some people to truly function better overnight than during the day.

There's a normal curve, a continuous distribution, really, of chronotypes. It's really, we're all a little differently, just like the size of our feet, for example, or our height. There's a full spectrum. But we can kind of put people in buckets, as some scientists have done, to try to look at the differences.

There's a normal curve, a continuous distribution, really, of chronotypes. It's really, we're all a little differently, just like the size of our feet, for example, or our height. There's a full spectrum. But we can kind of put people in buckets, as some scientists have done, to try to look at the differences.

There's a normal curve, a continuous distribution, really, of chronotypes. It's really, we're all a little differently, just like the size of our feet, for example, or our height. There's a full spectrum. But we can kind of put people in buckets, as some scientists have done, to try to look at the differences.

Yeah, so our circadian rhythms do differ. Our chronotypes do differ across our lifespan. So when we're first born, as parents can attest, we don't really have a lot of rhythm. We're kind of eating and sleeping throughout the day and night. And then as we get a little older, young kids tend to be early risers. And that quickly changes when we reach adolescence.

Yeah, so our circadian rhythms do differ. Our chronotypes do differ across our lifespan. So when we're first born, as parents can attest, we don't really have a lot of rhythm. We're kind of eating and sleeping throughout the day and night. And then as we get a little older, young kids tend to be early risers. And that quickly changes when we reach adolescence.

Yeah, so our circadian rhythms do differ. Our chronotypes do differ across our lifespan. So when we're first born, as parents can attest, we don't really have a lot of rhythm. We're kind of eating and sleeping throughout the day and night. And then as we get a little older, young kids tend to be early risers. And that quickly changes when we reach adolescence.

So at that point, early teen years, our rhythms start to drift later. So it can be as much as two or three hours. Now, you know, a kid that used to rise and be alert and ready to go at 6 a.m., now it might be more like 9 a.m. And of course, that means it's harder for these kids to go to sleep at night. And then as we get older, this kind of balances out a little bit.

So at that point, early teen years, our rhythms start to drift later. So it can be as much as two or three hours. Now, you know, a kid that used to rise and be alert and ready to go at 6 a.m., now it might be more like 9 a.m. And of course, that means it's harder for these kids to go to sleep at night. And then as we get older, this kind of balances out a little bit.

So at that point, early teen years, our rhythms start to drift later. So it can be as much as two or three hours. Now, you know, a kid that used to rise and be alert and ready to go at 6 a.m., now it might be more like 9 a.m. And of course, that means it's harder for these kids to go to sleep at night. And then as we get older, this kind of balances out a little bit.

And then in our older years, on average, we tend to be maybe slightly early risers. But even perhaps more important, as the scientists are finding, as we get older, our circadian rhythms get blunted. They get weaker. So we do not have as profound of like a rise and fall in our rhythms. And that manifests in a weaker sleep-wake cycle. So we might be more prone to napping during the day.

And then in our older years, on average, we tend to be maybe slightly early risers. But even perhaps more important, as the scientists are finding, as we get older, our circadian rhythms get blunted. They get weaker. So we do not have as profound of like a rise and fall in our rhythms. And that manifests in a weaker sleep-wake cycle. So we might be more prone to napping during the day.

And then in our older years, on average, we tend to be maybe slightly early risers. But even perhaps more important, as the scientists are finding, as we get older, our circadian rhythms get blunted. They get weaker. So we do not have as profound of like a rise and fall in our rhythms. And that manifests in a weaker sleep-wake cycle. So we might be more prone to napping during the day.

You know, if you think about like the... The grandparents sitting in the chair kind of falling asleep during the day and then maybe struggling to sleep at night. That is always partially due to this circadian rhythm being weakened as we get older.

You know, if you think about like the... The grandparents sitting in the chair kind of falling asleep during the day and then maybe struggling to sleep at night. That is always partially due to this circadian rhythm being weakened as we get older.

You know, if you think about like the... The grandparents sitting in the chair kind of falling asleep during the day and then maybe struggling to sleep at night. That is always partially due to this circadian rhythm being weakened as we get older.

But because we're understanding that, we're also understanding how to potentially strengthen those rhythms in part through things like getting that extra contrast of light and dark throughout the day.

But because we're understanding that, we're also understanding how to potentially strengthen those rhythms in part through things like getting that extra contrast of light and dark throughout the day.

But because we're understanding that, we're also understanding how to potentially strengthen those rhythms in part through things like getting that extra contrast of light and dark throughout the day.

Yeah, we were kind of doing it backwards in the Western world. Yeah, the science suggests that it's late morning, early afternoon when our bodies tend to be most ready to handle those incoming calories. And late at night, things start shutting down. Our insulin levels drop. Our other hormones that our bodies release to help increase.