As of late there are more people discussing the importance of sleeping 7 to 9 hours every night to be emotionally and physically healthy than ever before. Naps ruin the pattern and unless sick should be avoided. Meditation for more than a few minutes results in the person falling asleep and that's not helpful. I know some people can't sleep through the night because they have physical problems. That really messes with your focus the next day.
Let's move to Night Owls. I have found that the majority of "Night Owls" have emotional problems - often substance abusers who suffer from depression, anxiety disorders and focusing challenges. One bipolar male client in his late 20's told me that he sleeps all day. At night he goes to bars not to drink but to get into fights with others. He argues online. He knows he is self destructive - having been off and on meds for years. Who supports him - family and disability.
Night Owls Face Higher Depression Risk. A New Study Explains The Link. Science Alert - March 27, 2025
People who are late to rise and late to sleep are at higher risk for depression. The study determined the chronotype - a term used to categorize the variations that people's natural sleep-wake cycles can take - of 546 undergraduate students in an online questionnaire.
Life Really Is Harder for Night Owls. Here's Why. Live Science - February 15, 2019
"Night owls" - people who naturally stay up late and wake up well past sunrise - have different patterns of brain activity compared with "morning larks," a new study finds. And these differences can make life more difficult for night owls, if they're forced to stick to a typical 9-to-5 schedule. When the researchers scanned the brains of people who were classified as either night owls or morning larks, they found that night owls had lower "brain connectivity" - a measure of how "in sync" different brain regions are with each other - compared with morning larks. What's more, this lower brain connectivity in night owls was linked with poorer attention, slower reaction times and increased sleepiness throughout the hours of a typical workday, the researchers said.