The Morning Myth

CHAPTER 3 The Prison: How Our Society’s Discrimination Harms Night Owls

I called the endless garbage society pushes on us, described in Chapter 2, as “the brainwashing,” because even night owls come to believe this nonsense that early rising is an absolute essential to success in school and in life.

I know I certainly did, and for a long time I thought there was something medically wrong with me. I read endless books on chronic fatigue syndrome, high-energy diets, and much, much more. My wife will tell you I love reading medical books and over the past few years I’ve learned so much that I can even talk to doctors in medical terms. I remember being in agony the morning after my ankle surgery, saying, “It’s on the medial side!” “Are you sure you don’t mean lateral?” “No, I mean medial …”

I was born with hypothyroidism—low thyroid function, which causes chronic fatigue—but I’d been taking Armour Thyroid^® replacement hormone, desiccated pig thyroid, and my thyroid labs were at normal levels, so that wasn’t it.

Eventually I simply gave up. I had accepted the brainwashing. I accepted my fate as being a night owl and settled for a life of believing that the problem was with me, not with society’s celebratory views on early rising.

At that point, I was fully locked up in “the prison.”

The definition of the prison is the life of the night owl who is forced to live in a world where schedules are dictated by early risers. It makes them feel ashamed, inferior, and not a productive member ...