Are You a Night Owl?

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Narrator
What if I’m a night owl and no matter how tired you are, at ten o'clock at night, you get another wind?

Michael Breus, PhD
Right, so this happens, people catch their second wind. What usually has happened here is that a boost of adrenaline has kicked in um, for whatever reason, at whatever particular time of the evening to help keep you awake. Usually, that’s actually pretty consistent and people kind of know when their second wind is about to hit because it usually hits around the same time of the night. I try to get people to go to bed, even if you’re a night owl, before that second wind kicks in, because afterwards it becomes a hormonal issue, and when you try to battle your own hormones it’s a pretty tough thing to do. So, having enough discipline for yourself to know hey, I usually hit my second wind around 11:30 and getting in bed around 10:30 is probably going to be a good idea. Uh, if you hit the second wind, you’re pretty much stuck. Uh, it’s going to be pretty difficult for you to fall asleep no matter what. Sleep has a tremendous mental component to it and I don’t think people can appreciate that sometimes. And so, when I talk with people about sleep, what I tell them is you can make yourself sleep or you can make yourself be awake. It’s really dependent upon you and your brain.