Larks or Owls

Thomas Alva Edison, Leonardo DaVinci, Nikola Tesla, Benjamin Franklin, Mark Twain, Madonna, Charles Dickens, A. R. Rehman, Marilyn Monroe, Amitabh Bachchan, Bill Clinton and Napoleon, I can keep on naming many here in this list. They all had one thing in common. They all had some kind of sleep disorder. Medically such disorders are termed as CRSD or Circadian Rhythm Sleep Disorder. You might have heard the terms “Larks” for early risers and “Owls” for people who sleep very late. Many of readers might have already associated them with one of such categories. Everyone has his own reasons. Our traditional wisdom does justify a set rhythm that goes in favour of “larks”. In many ways the traditional wisdom is a perfect model for a balanced lifestyle for an Individual and for a social system to run. If children don’t wake up in time, how can school start on time and how education can be provided in a group. Same thing applies for office goers also. But! Is this pattern changing now?

If we try to look around people in the “owl” category can be seen everywhere. The biggest invention that converted billions of Larks into Owls was “Light Bulb”. Interestingly, Thomas Edison was not “owl” but he had a poly-phase sleep disorder. This means that he used to take many naps in a single day. The next great invention that is creating a big army of CRSD people is “Internet”. And now mobile/web applications like Facebook and Whatsapp are putting even more oil to this fire. So is it just a matter of worry for older generation, who can continue giving their advice which no one ever takes, or is it a matter of adjusting to the new world of owls. Were the people who were quoted above performed brilliantly in their respective field because they had sleep disorders? Absolutely not. People do have different circadian rhythms. The average rhythm of society has changed in past twenty years itself. It will keep on changing. With a new model people with different rhythms will also co-exist happily. Instead of cursing the new generation as a bunch of owls, we might need to find concrete activities, which are more productive and satisfying for everyone. A new research proves that attempts to change “Owl” sleep pattern children to “Lark” pattern did no good to them. In fact, sleep patterns were also found to run across generations. So friends let us accept people the way they are and try to draw best out of them, according to their basic nature. And let us be ready for a change that has already come, whether we like it or not. This is a topic, where no one is right and no one is wrong, but larks and owls around us may keep fighting like good siblings. Sh..Sh ! Please don’t ask me, I am a Lark, Owl or Like Thomas Alva Edison.

Dr. Sunil Ji Garg