The Morning Myth

Epilogue: Night Owls Have a Huge Advantage over Early Risers

If you have suffered a lifetime of sleep-shaming, have been made to feel lazy or inferior or useless because you don’t jump out of bed before dawn, if you have lost good jobs or been unable to accept new ones because you’re a night owl, fret no more.

Night owls:

• Are smarter than early risers
• Are more creative than early risers
• Are more resilient than early risers
• Enjoy dramatically more productive hours each day than early risers
• Are more productive than early risers
• Don’t “crash” by mid-afternoon and can keep going and going.
• Are more relaxed people, overall

And, of course, they have many other advantages over early risers that have been discussed in this book.

You’ve also seen the dark side of life as a night owl: the brainwashing society seems to subject everyone to, and the subsequent feeling of imprisonment by ostracized night owls. You’ve learned how early rising is significantly harmful to your health, puts you at risk for myriad severe illnesses, and will shorten your life expectancy if it’s not natural for you (and even if it is!)

You also know how to mitigate these health risks, how to make the most of a bad situation if you must rise early (though I hope you’ll find another job rather than continue to tolerate that), and you have endless facts at your fingertips to convince skeptics and sworn early risers as to why it’s not in their best interests to force you to continue to rise early.

In the end, night ...