Genetics of early risers vs. night owls

Hi, all. I found this interesting and thought I'd share it here.

http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-me ... e-sleepers

Both my parents were early risers. Unless I have to get up to watch a grand I sleep till 9am.

My father was a early-to-bed type and my mother was a night-owl. Naturally, I can't seem to decide what I am I sometimes wonder if my genetics are kind of haywire. Other than that they were great parents, which is more than a lot of people experience

I've been a night owl since infancy. My mom quickly learned that if she waited to put me to bed later in the evening I'd sleep all night and I would not get up at the crack of dawn, and it worked with my youngest, too.

I've had times in my life when I had to be up and out early. I could do it, but it was very unpleasant and almost always caught up with me in the long run.

My dad is a morning person. My mom is a mild might owl. I think she was in the normal range when I was a kid, but these days, she normally goes to bed between midnight and 2am.

My mom assures me that as I child, I woke up around 5am and went around the house singing. Sounds downright disgusting. I know that in high school, I did some zero hour classes that started early, and I was fine with that. I think it went to hell my first year in college. I signed up for classes that started at 7 or 8am, but I couldn't get to sleep before 1 or 2 am on school nights. By the next year, it was 3am.

That was over 20 years ago. For a long time, my bed time has been typically between 4 and 6am. I call myself a severe night owl. My brother and sister are both normal. My nephew is a night owl, but not as severe as me.

I think my night owl tendencies are circumstantial. Was perfectly happy throughout much of life with "early to bed, early to rise". It wasn't until my sleep became miserable that I started staying up late. I know almost nothing about genetics. Can genes be altered over time or after trauma?

I love to get up at the crack of noon and I seem to be the most creative during the middle of the night. Based off of my home dynamics, I'm uncertain which parent blessed me with this trait. (also I'm missing the "correct spelling" gene)

This whole thread is based on fruit flies and their similarities to us. This reminds me of learning 20 years ago that radioactive tracers were to be inserted into patients and then the blood flow tracked inside the brain. The resulting image would tell doctors what your problem would be. Last year I was reading where medicine has now found that many brain functions are not related to blood flow and the mysteries are still there.

Not long ago I had to read on this website how medical science has increase our longevity. Really? Someone has this one wrong. The longevity is there because of electrical power and civil engineering. Certainly not medicine. In countries where they have access to only 2000 watts for three hours per day the engineering required to separate the poop from the food just can’t work. Women spend all their time trying to get clean water. Watch your six o’clock news and look at the many places in the world where men are violently protesting. Don’t they work? No….the women do!
Many doctors will not advise you to take pro-bioptics or D3.

The American Heart Association is still stating that the Massachusetts study (every two years of 100,000 people +) clearly shows a link between heart disease and cholesterol. The executive summary of the same study says that no link has been yet found. The American Heart Association still has a cartoon showing a lump in an artery stating its cholesterol. It isn’t; its calcium.

Now the fruit flies. More fun and games?

Nearly forgot: If our OSA is caused by tissue then why would the absence of a CPAP after a few months of use still have benefits to the sufferer? Is it possible that it's also neurological? Try telling that to a doctor and they will pull out the placebo effect for sure.

It's my view that only a small number of people are genetically programmed to be night owls. For most people, it is learned, but hey, injury can cause a change as well. I was always an early riser, but after a brain injury, my internal clock seemed to move about 3 or 4 hours.

If I didn't have to worry about my work schedule I would so be a night owl. When I was a stay at home mom I stayed up all hours of the night. I do the same when I'm on vacation. I'm on vacation next week and I'm sure to stay up to the wee hours most nights.