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Check out UniverseUnboxed.com to learn about SciShow science kits!
And stick around to the end of the episode to hear more about this exciting new SciShow project!
[INTRO ♪]. It seems like there are two types of people in the world.
Some people who are fresh as a daisy first thing in the morning and ready to get a jump on the day.
Others are sluggish and bleary-eyed before 10 AM, gripping their coffee like their life depends upon it.
Basically, you’ve got your morning larks and your night owls—I’m a night owl—and scientifically, those are real terms.
They refer to a person’s chronotype: the particular calibration of their internal clock that leads them to naturally sleep and wake at a certain time.
If your chronotype doesn’t line up with the people around you—like, for example, your two-year-old—you might understandably want to change it.
But it’s not clear whether that’s actually possible—and even if you could, you probably wouldn’t like it.
Like most human traits, chronotypes fall on a bell curve:
Though the numbers vary between studies, roughly 10 to 20 percent of people are night owls or morning larks, and the majority of people fall somewhere in the middle.
And it’s not just a matter of habit or preference: there’s evidence that your chronotype is written in your genes.
A 2016 study found 15 gene variants associated with a morning chronotype, for example.
Most of them appeared to play roles in the body’s response to light and in regulating circadian rhythms, or the daily cycles that govern most of the body’s processes.
Your chronotype also seems to be heritable.. You’ve got a better chance of being a night owl if one of your parents is, too.
Scientists can even detect chronotypes in human cells when they’re grown in culture.
In fact, researchers are working on a way to test a person’s chronotype using their blood, so they can time medical treatments to match the natural rhythms of a patient’s body.
And that’s because your internal clock is super important.
/ˈverēənt/
form or version of something that differs in some respect from other forms of same thing or from standard. Things that differs from some things of the same kind.
/əˈsōsēˌādid/
connected with something else. To spend time with other people; mix with.
/ˌhīpəˈTHaləməs/
Basal part of the diencephalon governing autonomic nervous system.
/pə(r)ˈtikyələr/
Having firm ideas about what is desirable. individual item.
/ˈmôrniNG/
every morning. good morning. time between midnight and noon.
/sərˈkādēən/
(of biological processes) recurring naturally on twenty-four-hour cycle, even in absence of light fluctuations. Concerning biological processes occurring at -hour intervals.
/ˈevədəns/
Factual proof that helps to establish the truth. be or show evidence of.
/ˈwərkiNG/
having paid employment. action of doing work. To do your job in your company or workplace.