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Image / Editorial

Are You A Night Owl? You May Be Considered ‘More Intelligent’


By Niamh ODonoghue
25th Jan 2017
Are You A Night Owl? You May Be Considered ‘More Intelligent’

There’s good news if you’re a struggling early-riser. Your morning tardiness may be linked to higher levels of intelligence and creativity, according to science


They say the early bird catches the worm, but after a six-hour Netflix binge starting at 2am, we’re feeling more night owl than early bird.

Here at IMAGE towers, we are massive sleep advocates, but we can think of better ways to awaken in the morning rather than by that sinking feeling in the pit?of your stomach after realising you’ve missed all twelve alarms.

What’s worse is we can’t justify our actions (or at least your boss won’t think it’s justified), and we realise the only way to get rid of our tardiness is to go to bed earlier (which is easier said than done when you have a sudden urge at 4:30 am to write a novel and teach yourself how to become a master at photoshop).

But according to research, our late-night bursts of energy and concentration are a sign of higher levels of intellect – even if it means we’re late for work the next morning.

This study suggests that those of us who deviate from normal sleeping patterns (i.e. night owls) may have a higher IQ than regular adults who get an average of 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night. it cites that “more intelligent children are more likely to grow up to be nocturnal adults who go to bed late and wake up late on both weekdays and weekends”.

Researchers?at the University of Madrid analysed?the sleeping patterns of 1,000 students and found that those who went to bed later (and consequently woke up later) scored higher on inductive reasoning tests; a test normally associated with general intelligence.

Whats, more, late sleepers are thought to be more creative.?Researchers from the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan found that night people are more likely to develop original and creative solutions to problems than morning people.

This does make sleeping late in the morning all the more appealing (and not to mention you get to rub the whole “I’m more intelligent” thing in your boss’ face), but even though night owls may be considered more intelligent, early risers may be in a better position for success?which is a pretty good reason to get a good nights sleep.

A solution to the night owl conundrum? ?In a perfect world, perhaps we’d start work at 11am, but for now,?we’ll stick to our twelve alarms.