Circadian Rhythm

Yes, it’s after midnight. I should be in bed. But I am not. Summer is a time of mixed up sleep schedules. Or is it my observation of la siesta that enables me a) to make it through the 14 + hours of daylight and b) to enjoy the quiet of the night. I have always been a night owl, or so my mother tells me. I was born just after 3 am in Buffalo, NY. Does time of birth impact whether a person is a night person or a morning person? And can a person be both? (I think I am.)

When I think of my crazy summer schedule (waking at 5:30 or 6:00 AM, teaching and working till the afternoon, napping, dining, and working some more till about 2:00 AM) I wonder how I find myself so out of sync with the rest of the world. And then I think back to teaching and taking classes at the University of Arkansas. Or earlier- teaching summer school in St. Louis. My schedule was much the same as it is now. And farther back to my time at the University of Central Arkansas as a masters’ student. Again, pretty much the same. When I delve even farther back, I think of my time growing up at the motel. And a pattern emerges.

I suppose it is the extended hours of daylight that allows for this odd rhythm to break through. During the school year, I awake at 6:30 or 7:00 and I am in bed by 9:00 or 10:00 – earlier if I thought I could get away with it.

Regardless of whether it is an early, quiet morning (say walking to Peabody Hall at 4:30 a.m. watching the bunnies and skunks scurry about campus) or a late, peaceful evening (sitting out beneath the stars), I am happiest when it’s calm. I am happiest when the rest of the world is sleeping.

May your dreams be sweet.