We all have our own sleep patterns, but do you know what it means for your daily productivity peaks? Vhi Health Coach Sabrina Kelleher delves into common “chronotypes” to show how you can make the most of your workday.

Sleep is a huge part of being a healthy, well-functioning human being and our internal clock is central in ensuring we get enough of it. This is tied to our circadian rhythms, which essentially amount to your sleep-wake patterns over the course of a 24-hour day. It's based primarily on how we interact with the light, and how our hormones are interacting with that. When it gets dark in the evenings, our melatonin levels increase and help us unwind. When the light returns, we have a surge in cortisol levels, which make us alert and awake.

Now, while we might follow similar day-to-day schedules, we each have our biological body clock. You'll know this yourself: maybe you leap out of bed in the mornings as an "early bird" or find yourself still up in the small hours as a "night owl". These familiar terms are what we can now call a "chronotype" – the natural inclination of your body to sleep at a certain time. But those two don't tell the whole story. You’ll land somewhere along a spectrum of sleep, with some of us gravitating to certain patterns more than others.

Sleep research has now allowed us to delve deeper than these two chronotypes, giving us four chronotypes which can provide a useful blueprint as we strive to find the routine that's just right for our biology. While we should avoid pigeonholing people and their circadian rhythms, knowing your nearest chronotype can help you identify your peak productivity times and, where possible, adjust your workday or lifestyle accordingly. So, let's run through them and you can see what traits best represent you and your circadian rhythms.

The bear

Making up roughly 50 – 55% of people, the bear has a sleep-wake cycle closely aligned to the sun. They typically rise with relative ease around 7am and are your typical morning person – a happy-go-lucky sort with mellow energy. While they remain pretty productive throughout the workday, their peak generally arrives at 11am. So, they should consider tackling their most challenging tasks in this pre-lunch window, while their level of focus is very high. They can then expect a “post-lunch” dip after 2pm, but they’ll be well able for meetings, brainstorms and more.

They should start turning off devices and winding down from 10pm, for sleep at around 11pm. Bears usually find it easy to nod off. They can also stay up late – but it will impact their mood the next morning!

The wolf

About 15-20% of us are wolves who struggle to get up in the morning. Rising around 7.30am, they’ll have hit the snooze button a few times and be racing to work! On the plus side, after their peak productivity kicks in around 12pm and carries them through the afternoon, they get a second boost around 6pm that means they’ll still be feeling energised and creative while everyone else is heading home for the day. Traits-wise, they can often be introspective and creative. They should be having a late dinner and going to bed a little later: around midnight.

The lion

The earliest of risers! Making up around 15% of the population, it’s not unusual for a lion to be wide awake before 6am. They are charismatic and natural leaders, attacking the day and being the first email in your inbox. Their peak covers the morning hours before midday, so that’s the time for more complex tasks, while lunchtime is the moment to switch over to brainstorming and less intensive tasks. You need to know when to relax if you’re a lion, because they can have a tendency to overdo it. It helps to schedule easier jobs from 3pm as energy levels start dipping. A lion will likely be falling asleep by 9pm or 10pm.

The dolphin

The rarest chronotype, covering roughly 10% of us. They tend to be highly intelligent, with a creative energy that comes in bursts. While they can rise any time after 6am, their peak productivity window is between 10am and 2pm. They have trouble following a sleep schedule and will be very light sleepers – a bit like the dolphin sleeping with half its brain awake! So, intermittent breaks throughout the day will help them recharge and reset. Turning off devices from 10pm and switching off all lights by midnight will aid the occasionally difficult transition to sleep.

A host of variables can come into play when identifying your chronotype, including stress levels and diet. You can gauge where you land by making a conscious effort to journal how you feel throughout the day over a couple of weeks. Then see how it tallies with the chronotype descriptions.

How can this help?

We’ve seen increased opportunities around work flexibility in recent years. Companies are finding that offering flexi-hours allows their employees to optimise their day, getting more done when things are slightly more tailored to their schedule. So, I’d certainly welcome that shift to having “core hours” from, say, 10am to 3pm, with room to manoeuvre outside of that.

Not even just for sleep, but for general work-life balance. It helps as a parent and, if you’re a night owl with no kids to worry about, you'd also appreciate having that extra hour in the morning! You might also be someone who is quite happy to be in the office for 7am and then out the door in the afternoon, so you can go home and wind down while it’s still bright out.

Of course, that’s not always possible. Even still, finding a chronotype that chimes with your own behaviours can help you identify your best times and structure your workday accordingly. You might need to be in at the same time, but if you’re a wolf, maybe you spend the morning catching up with colleagues and responding to emails before tackling your more involved projects once you’re firing on all cylinders in the afternoon. You may be able to chat with your team and agree to carve out certain periods of “me” time where you’re not breaking away from more involved work for meetings.

Can your chronotype change?

Your circadian clock will shift as you age: teenagers are programmed to sleep later in the mornings, while your circadian rhythms get earlier from the age of 60-65. But for most of your adult working life, those sleep-wake patterns will be fairly consistent. While there isn’t much you can do to change your genetic make-up, your lifestyle choices can make you more adaptable.

That’s where sleep hygiene practices come into play. If you’re used to going to bed after midnight and suddenly you’ve got to be up at 5am for early meetings, you’re looking for ways to unwind earlier in the evening. If you have the lead-in time or it’s a long-term goal, purposefully shift your “shutting off” time by a half an hour each day until you’re where you want to be.

Get your exercise out of the way earlier. Cut out late evening snacks. Dim the lights. Put your screens away an hour before your sleeping time. All these things are signals to your body that it’s time to settle down and get into sleep mode. Meditation can also help strengthen your ability to de-stress your body. There are plenty of guided meditations out there that you can practice at home. Meditation can even take the form of going for a walk and immersing yourself in nature. Whatever helps clear the clutter of your mind and get more in tune with your body clock.

Ultimately, all of this comes back to finding out what’s best for you. So, even if you don’t neatly fit one of the chronotypes we’ve discussed, finding some traits you can relate to can be the first step in doing just that.

Meditation can help you to connect better with your internal clock. Vhi members get €30 off an annual subscription to either the Headspace or Calm apps.

This content is for information purposes only and is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek advice from your GP or an appropriate medical professional if you have concerns about your health, or before commencing a new healthcare regime. If you believe that you are experiencing a medical emergency call 999 / 112 or seek emergency assistance immediately.