Understanding Your Sleep Chronotype

A good night’s sleep starts with understanding your chronotype – are you a lion, bear, wolf, or dolphin? Hear Mount Sinai provider, Lara Trevino, AGNP-C, MSN describe the science of sleep, the different chronotypes, and why adjusting your sleep by an hour or two could greatly disrupt your routine.

Your chronotype, aka your underlying circadian rhythm, determines your ideal sleep times. Everyone has a genetically determined chronotype that is hard wired into the genes. You can push and pull 30-45 minutes, but if you try to change it, you’ll likely feel jet lagged.

Neuroscientists have different descriptions of chronotype, but neuroscientist Dr. Michael Breus often explains four chronotypes with animals:

1. Lion (also referred to as an early bird or lark)
   • 15% of the population
   • Wakes up at 5 am, goes to sleep at 9 or 10 pm
   • Productive time is in the morning
   • Consistently gets up early and feels exhausted when it’s time to go to sleep
2. Bear
   • 40% of the population
   • wakes up and goes to bed with the sun
   • Productive time 11 am – 6 pm
3. Wolf (night owl)
   • 30% of the population
   • Goes to sleep around midnight or one and wakes up at nine am
   • Most productive at night
4. Dolphin
   • 15% of the population
   • Light sleepers often diagnosed with insomnia
   • Exercise in the morning to calm anxiety

Culturally, we follow the time schedule of a bear which is especially tough on night owls. Many people feel they have insomnia but oftentimes they are not (or cannot) follow their natural chronotype.

Does this sound familiar to you?

For more tailored information on sleep, contact the Health Center team. You can chat with a Personal Health Navigator through the portal, call +1 646 605 3900 or email barhcsupport@mountsinai.org.

Challenge:
Identify your ideal bedtime and wake up time and maintain it for the week.

Once you identify your sleep chronotype 

• Try to follow that rhythm for the week and see if you feel anymore rested or productive. You can also try adjusting this pattern by 30-45 minutes to see if you still get the desired results.

Pay close attention to your sleep and energy levels

• Sleep hygiene requires a heavy dose of self-reflection and experimentation to identify what works. Think about the last time you had great sleep. What did your day look like? What did your wind down routine look like?
• If you have an Apple Watch, Whoop, Fitbit or other device that can track your sleep, start to wear your device to sleep and sync it with your phone. You can set up goals and create a great visual to reference at the end of the week

Test some different sleep routines

• Try to put your phone on airplane mode or DND or in a different room an hour before bed.
• Find an interesting audiobook or physical book to replace late night screen time.
• Set a phone timer on social media applications
• Avoid caffeine after 12 pm and avoid alcohol within two hours of bedtime.
• Try blackout shades
• Get rid of any small lights that bother you like a charger or light from a tv
• Try yoga before bed to relax you
• Take a shower before bed and sleep in a cold room
• Evaluate your sleep environment: would a noise machine help? Are your sheets comfortable? Is the room cold enough?