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Sleepfaring: What kind of person are you?

I don’t think there are words to describe how much I love sleeping in, taking my time getting out of bed in the morning, or spending several extra hours under my comforter. Perhaps I love sleeping in as much as I hate getting out of bed on a cold Monday morning. I don’t dislike coming to work on Mondays, in fact I love my job, but physically getting out from under the comforter is torture. So I guess it’s obvious, I am a night owl. But what are you? Jim Horne, author of Sleepfaring: The Secrets and Science of a Good Night’s Sleep has written a clever quiz to help you out. If you want to learn more take a look at his book, a fascinating account of the most relevant research about sleep in areas like brain physiology, psychology, medicine, and social factors. Keep track of your score so you can find out how you rate.

Are you a lark, an owl, or neither?

  1. How’s your appetite in the first half hour after you wake up in the
    morning?

    1. Very poor [1]
    2. Fairly poor [2]
    3. Fairly good [3]
    4. Very good [4]
  2. For the first half hour after you wake up in the morning, how do you feel?
    1. Very sleepy [1]
    2. Fairly sleepy [2]
    3. Fairly alert [3]
    4. Very alert [4]
  3. You have no commitments the next day; at what time would you go to
    bed compared with your usual bedtime?

    1. Seldom or never later [4]
    2. Less then one hour later [3]
    3. 1–2 hours later [2]
    4. More than 2 hours later [1]
  4. You are going to get fit. A friend suggests joining their fitness class between 7 and 8am. How do you think you would perform?
    1. Would be on good form [4]
    2. Would be on reasonable form [3]
    3. Would find it difficult [2]
    4. Would find it very difficult [1]
  5. At what time do you feel sleepy and in need to go to bed?
    1. 8–9pm [5]
    2. 9–10.15pm [4]
    3. 10.15pm–12.45am [3]
    4. 12.45–2am [2]
    5. 2–3am [1]
  6. If you went to bed at 11pm, how sleepy would you be?
    1. Not at all sleepy [0]
    2. A little sleepy [2]
    3. Fairly sleepy [3]
    4. Very sleepy [5]
  7. One night you have to remain awake between 4 and 6am. You have no commitments the next day. Which suits you best?
    1. Not to go to bed until 6am [1]
    2. Nap before 4am and sleep after 6am [2]
    3. Sleep before 4am and nap after 6am [3]
    4. Sleep before 4am and remain awake after 6am [4]
  8. Suppose that you can choose your own work hours, but had to work five hours in the day. When would you like to start work?
    1. Midnight–5am [1]
    2. 3–8am [5]
    3. 8–10am [4]
    4. 10am–2pm [3]
    5. 2–4pm [2]
    6. 4pm–midnight [1]
  9. At what time of day do you feel your best?
    1. Midnight–5am [1]
    2. 5am–9am [5]
    3. 9am–11am [4]
    4. 11am–5pm [3]
    5. 5pm–10pm [2]
    6. 10pm–midnight [1]
  10. Do you think of yourself as a morning or evening person?
    1. Morning type [6]
    2. (b) More morning than evening [4]
    3. More evening than morning [2]
    4. Evening type [0]

Scoring:

Add up the points you scored for each answer (they are in the square brackets).

Score 8–12: definitely an evening type

Score 13–20: moderately an evening type

Score 2–33: neither type

Score 34–41: moderately a morning type

Score 42–46: definitely a morning type

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