Chronotype is the natural inclination of your body to sleep at a certain time, or what most people understand as being an early bird versus a night owl. – SleepFoundation.org
I don’t know about you but I’ve just recently discovered the term chronotype and what it means. Finding the time of day that you’re most productive! As life starts to get busier again – both with work and personally – it’s important to manage your productivity during the day in the best way possible. This is where everyone differs. Some people work best late in the evening once everyone else has logged off for the day, or first thing in the morning before some people even have their first sip of coffee! Others, of course, find their optimum productivity comes in the middle of the day.
Determining your chronotype can vary and depends a lot on genetics, age and many other factors!
It’s not revolutionary when I say that sleep, food and exercise play a massive part in our day-to-day productivity and energy levels – they really do!! Get that blast of fresh air at some point during the day, and even when you’re up the walls with that deadline that’s fast approaching, don’t forget to eat balanced and healthy meals.
Sleep can be difficult for many people, but cutting out screen exposure before trying to sleep can help.
As a team here, we’ve adapted to a new way of working that means you’re at home all week and, except for scheduled Zoom and Teams calls, you are responsible for your own time management. This means efficiently utilising your working hours is more important than ever!
Take the UK lockdown, for example – It was a testing time for everyone and if you were lucky enough to still have a job, you needed to find a new way of working. For me, I got into the habit (that I need to take back up) of going for a 20-30 minute walk before sitting down at my desk to start the day and again at the end of the day to mark the move from “office” time to “home” time.
What are habits you started in Spring/Summer 2020 that you have continued?
In addition to regulating sleep and wake times, Chronotype has an influence on appetite, exercise, and core body temperature. It is responsible for the fact that you feel more alert at certain periods of the day and sleepier at others. – SleepFoundation.org