Ep. 62: What's Your Chronotype? How Sleep Tendencies Are Genetic

What’s a chronotype? Are you a Lion, Dolphin, Bear, or Wolf? Listen and find out why you are the way that you are with your sleep habits. When you understand this and what your own body needs to operate optimally, that empowers you to use your energy more efficiently.

Your chronotype is embedded in your DNA and so knowing your chronotype and learning to stop fighting against it can improve your life because if you stop fighting it, you’ll feel more rested.

Here’s what else you’ll learn in this episode:
• what the characteristics are for the lion, dolphin, bear and wolf chronotypes
• what it means if you think you’re not any of them
• why you should respect your chronotype in order to take charge of your overall health
• what your natural waking/sleep times mean
• which gene determines your chronotype
• what it looks like to plan your life around your chronotype
• dealing with the chronotypes of kids and spouses
• how school and work are not set up to deal with different chronotypes
• all chronotypes are created equal — nobody’s sleep schedule is superior to another.

Think about what you can do to reclaim lost energy and reclaim power over your sleep by keeping it consistent and setting boundaries as needed. And until next time, breathe, stay strong, and always celebrate victory!

Which chronotype are you?

Lion

• Likes to wake up early (5:30 am or earlier)

• Likes to go to bed by 9:00 or earlier

• Medium-level sleep drive

• Doesn’t like to be out late

• Great in leadership roles

• Go-getter types, type A personalities

• Challenge-oriented, goal-driven

• 15-20% of people

Dolphin

• Likes to wake up around 6:30 or 7:00 am

• Ideal bedtime is close to midnight

• Gets insomnia

• Obsessive-compulsive tendencies that interfere with sleep

• Inconsistent sleep patterns

• Has trouble focusing on tasks

• Sometimes labeled as a “problem child”

• They have no specific time of day or night that they feel they function optimally

• Their productivity is inconsistent

• Only about 10% of people have this chronotype

Bear

• Likes to wake up early around 7:00 am

• Likes to go to bed by 10:30–11:00 pm

• Most of society is built around this chronotype

• Generally extroverted

• They get things done

• The have no problem fitting into societal expectations and follow rules

• They go with the flow

• Tend to be friendly but not always focused on big priorities

• 50–55% of people

Wolf

• Likes to wake up around 7:30 am or later

• Ideal bedtime is after midnight

• This is the stereotypical “night owl”

• They struggle with traditional school/work start times

• Can be somewhat introverted

• Highly creative (actors, musicians, writers)

• Risk-takers

• Least likely chronotype to take care of their health

• Tendency to make irrational decisions

• Tends to gain weight more than other chronotypes because circadian rhythms and cortisol work against them

• 15–20% of people

Questions, thoughts or comments?

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The information shared is for educational and informational purposes only. It should not be interpreted as an intent to diagnose, treat, cure, heal or prescribe.

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Ep. 62: What’s Your Chronotype? How Sleep Tendencies Are Genetic