Lark? Owl? Jay? Budgerigar? After an extensive study, a group of scientists proposed a new classification of human diurnal activity instead of “larks” and “owls. The scientists identified six chronotypes. Two thousand people took part in the study, including employees of the Institute of Medicine of the Russian University of Friendship among Nations. The results of the study were published in the journal “Personality and Individual Differences”.
The physiological functions of our bodies follow daily rhythms. This means that a person may be more or less active and productive depending on the time of day. Two well-known chronotypes are “larks,” who are most active in the morning, and “owls,” who are most productive in the evening. However, these differences are quite conditional: about 60% of people do not fall into any of these categories. The team of scientists from the RUDN Institute of Medicine, together with leading Russian and foreign chronobiologists, conducted a large-scale study and identified 4 additional chronotypes, thus expanding the overall classification.
“The study of individual chronobiological and chronopsychological differences has focused primarily on morning and evening chronotypes. However, recent research shows that the existing classification needs to be reconsidered and expanded. Our team conducted tests and asked participants to select their daily activity types from six proposed options. Based on the test results, we studied the dynamics of sleep and wakefulness patterns throughout the day,” says Dr. Dmitry Sveshnikov, Doctor of Medical Sciences from the Department of Human Physiology at the RUDN Institute of Medicine.
It turns out that they sleep during the day not because they are lazy, but because they have such a chronotype. Scientists have proposed a new classification that includes six chronotypes. They are determined by various criteria such as sleep duration, excessive daytime sleepiness, ability to wake up and fall asleep as needed, and so on. Four new chronotypes have been added to the classification:
- The team conducted a series of online tests in which 2283 people participated, and 95% of respondents identified themselves as one of the six proposed chronotypes.
- Only one-third of them chose the morning or evening type (13% and 24%, respectively).
- The majority of participants identified with one of the four new chronotypes: 15% chose the daytime type, 18% – the daytime sleepy type, 9% – the highly active type, and 16% – the moderately active type.
Dr. Sveshnikov believes that the test results can be considered as confirmation of the theory of the existence of additional chronotypes.