sheltered, schmeltered

Some of us are just wired different. I avoid seeing the left-hand side of 7am -- or for that matter, 9am -- if I can at all help it.

Doesn't matter what time I go to bed or get up, it ALWAYS takes me about an hour to get my mind into any useful frame of reference. Conversely, I get some of my best studying done between 11pm and 1am.

So I figure, why fight it?

For the record, there was a study some time ago in which researchers discovered that morning people regulate a particular stress hormone differently than do night owls. The dividing point is right around 8:30am, and the stress hormone allows morning people to get up early and immediately be productive. The flipside is that the hormone results in a sharp wear-down by about 3-4pm, necessitating an afternoon nap.

Conversely, night-owls are slower to get started, but they (in general) can be productive pretty much across the entire day and evening, without stopping.