SiOWfa16: Science in Our World: Certainty and Controversy

The course website and blog for the fall 2016 instance of penn state's sc200 course.

SiOWfa16: Science in Our World: Certainty and Controversy

Productivity levels at Night versus in the Morning

Growing up I always thought that staying up late at night was the coolest thing. I use to get upset when I was sent to bed early and my older cousins were able to stay up as late as they wanted. The bizarre thing is that all throughout high school I would do all my homework throughout the day and go to bed early and now that I’m older I’ve noticed that I leave my homework for the evening and have more energy and am most productive. The question is are you more likely to be more productive later in the day or early in the morning or is it the other way around? My null hypothesis is that people are most productive later in the day and at night.

In  an a article  written by Nolan G Pope. He looks into how time of day improves productivity in schools; And by how schools should change the setup of their schedules take advantage of the time of day. What made his finds harder was that certain subjects were set up for a specific times of the day and that was out of his control. How he went about his study was that he collected test scores and GPA’s from high schools and middle schools in the Los Angeles school district. What he found was quiet interesting; he found that students levels of productive in the morning are higher than in the afternoon and that moving classes with high importance like math to the morning students performance is better.

So are we more productive during the day time than at night?

I still wasn’t convinced so I did more research and found  another article  that rises another point which is that people who are able to be productive later in the day versus earlier in the day have different brain structures. How is that possible? Being an early bird or a night owl can be Due to our genetic makeup. That same article states that there are physical differences in our brains. In a study done by scientist of Germany’s Aachen University observed a group of 59 men and women of different chronotypes. 16 were early birds 20 were in between and 23 were night owls . They found that night owls showed less white matter in the brain than the others. Night Owls are more likely to suffer from depression and also due to this the disrupt there normal cognitive functioning.

In conclusion my null hypothesis didn’t work. Productivity is higher early in the day than it is at night. our brains are more active during the day and staying up late at night our brains have less white matter and our cognitive functioning is impaired because of it. So its best to be productive during the day than late at night. This still isn’t a proven fact so scientist are still working on figuring out what time of day is best.

Sites: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/REST_a_00525

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-michael-j-breus/night-owl-sleep_b_4276411.html

Images: https://cdn.instructables.com/FWE/QM50/FVKOLJKC/FWEQM50FVKOLJKC.MEDIUM.jpg

8 thoughts on “ Productivity levels at Night versus in the Morning ”

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Great use and refeRences to things we had learned about in class. I feel as though this is a hard topic to research because while science can lean towards a certain option (in this case, morning people have better cognitive focus)a person’s preference can still get in the way of that (how you’re still productive at night despite what science says)

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I also feel like I’m more productive at night. Since you concluded that people are not actually more productive later in the day, I wondered if there is some other explanation for our increased productivity later rather than earlier. For example, I thought that it could be due to the lighting of the area in which an individual works. This would mean that night owls like us would be more productive when the lighting conditions are darker, and early risers would be more productive when working in brighter conditions. However, multiple studies such as this one conclude that brighter lighting actually increases productivity and efficiency.

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That was a really great blog post. You had sufficient evidence to back up your claims and it was really interesting! My null hypothesis would have been the same as yours. I wonder what time in the morning is most optimal for higher productivity? If it’s like 8 in the morning I don’t understand, but it if it’s like 10 than that makes more sense to me. In high school I was more productive in the evening but now in college I’m more productive in the early afternoon. I think it is really cool how our brains all are set up differently and that can cause some many differences between us. I wonder if when we get up in the mornings affects when we are the most productive? Here’s a website that helps you determine when you are most productive, hope it works for people who are interested ! http://blog.trello.com/find-productive-hours

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I find these findings to make a lot of sense. In the morning, you are coming off of sleep, so you are more refreshed than you would be at night when you’ve gone through the entire day and have used up all of your energy. Not only would the amount of energy go against being more productive at night, but you also often have much more to do at night, such as social outings and meetings. There’s also an interesting debate on wither you should work out in the morning or at night. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/best-time-to-work-out_us_562e302ee4b0aac0b8fd5f29

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Personally, I find myself to be most productive at night. In the morning all i’m thinking about is my post-class nap. I tend to set aside my work during the day and push it off until the last second which results in nighttime being the only time to do my work anyway. Knowing that I have to get it done before I go to bed is what keeps me motivated. I think we all focus better at different times throughout the day and I’m not too sure science itself has much to do with that. Of course you mentioned white matter and impaired cognitive functions, but perhaps people just feel motivated for different reasons at different times.

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I never have been able to classify myself as an early bird or night owl and have found that I am able to adjust to whatever schedule I need to be on. Or like right now, I can be both and early bird with an 8am calc class and a night owl finishing up all of the homework that I was not able to get done during the day. Personally, I find myself the most productive at night because I know I need to get it done whereas I know during the day I can continue to push the work off a little bit longer. I don’t think it has anything to do with my brain functioning better during a certain part of the day, I think its just due to my ways of procrastination. As for finding that night owls are more likely to be depressed, I think there might be some confounding variables that could also be causing this. For example, a lack of sleep could be what is causing the night owls to be depressed and have a disrupted cognitive function. If you are a night owl but are forced to wake up early for class or work, you are not getting the amount of sleep a person needs each night so this might be affecting their mental health. Although this is not really a proven scientific fact, I will start trying to be more productive during the day because it seems that my brain is working best then!

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I feel like this is definitely a good topic to research more into. Being in college with everyone having different schedules, we find when we as individuals armor productive. For me, it is definitely at night, but I am altogether not a morning person. I think this is a great start but you could definitely go into more detail, especially about the different brain structures and how that could affect school times. If you want to look further into the topic, here is a list of 9 things comparing morning vs night people and the science that comes behind find it. https://www.fastcodesign.com/3046391/evidence/morning-people-vs-night-people-9-insights-backed-by-science

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I find this article so interesting! I can barely process anything in the morning in contrast to at night. I call myself a night owl! I feel like I get so much more done at later hours in the day for some reason. I wonder though if I had switched my sleeping schedule a little bit if waking up and processing information (by doing some type of schoolwork) would be possible? My friend on the other hand is the complete opposite and her situation goes along with your conclusion. She works so well in the morning, but as the day comes to an end, she slowly loses energy and can barely process anything. It gets to the point where there is no reason for her to stay up because her work is unproductive from that point on. Here’s an article that shows how night owls like me may not be as healthy as early risers who get work done when it’s bright out! http://www.businessinsider.com/is-staying-up-late-bad-for-you-2015-4

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John Cline Ph.D.

What Can You Do When You're Too Tired, Too Early?

Expert advice on living with circadian rhythm disorders..

Posted March 31, 2016 | Reviewed by Jessica Schrader

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We often read about, or may know someone—often a high school or college student—who stays up way too late and then has a very hard time getting up in the morning. When bedtimes and wake times both get very late, and a person is not able to fall asleep until, say, 2 a.m., we refer to this as delayed sleep phase syndrome . This is not a rare problem—it afflicts as much as seven percent of the adolescent and young adult population. Numerous articles appear in the sleep literature about this disorder.

But what about those who have the opposite problem? What about people who just can’t stay up until, say, 10 p.m.—a typical bedtime? These individuals have advanced sleep phase disorder , a group that constitutes up to one percent of middle-aged people. And we see far fewer articles about this problem.

Collectively, both of these sleep problems are known as circadian rhythm disorders and are related to the natural 24-hour pattern of wake and sleep we experience on a daily basis. The circadian system prepares us for the day and allows the body to be in optimal condition at different times of day. For example, as the sky darkens and night approaches, the circadian system helps prepare the body for the onset of sleep. In a similar way, when dawn begins to brighten the sky and morning approaches, sleep begins to shift increasingly from the deep stages to dreaming . Our sleep becomes increasingly light so that we can easily awaken and be prepared to start the day.

Advanced sleep phase syndrome is essentially the opposite of delayed sleep phase syndrome. Those who experience it find that it becomes difficult to engage in evening activity because they have a strong propensity to fall asleep quite early. They then awaken at around 3 a.m. or even earlier. While delayed sleep phase syndrome is most often observed in young people, advanced sleep phase syndrome is more likely to occur in older individuals. Along with the unusually early bedtime, other circadian rhythms are also affected, as in the daily changes in core body temperature or the release of certain hormones . (Although using melatonin to encourage sleep is considered controversial by many in the sleep field, there is evidence that it can help restore normal circadian functioning when one uses it properly.)

The outstanding features of advanced sleep phase disorder are habitual and involuntary sleep and wake times that are generally more than three hours earlier than societal norms sanction. It appears that the sleep itself is normal relative to the age of the individual, just shifted earlier than that which is typical for a majority of society. You may know older individuals who complain of an overwhelming need to sleep starting in the late afternoon or early evening. This can significantly reduce a person's ability to engage in typical evening activities such as cleaning up the kitchen, reading a book, chatting with family, or watching TV. Conversely, such people find it very difficult to sleep beyond 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. in the morning. This can disrupt daily activities, as it is often not possible to engage in meaningful job-related or social activities that early in the morning—and hours may go by during which the person is wide awake but has nothing to do. Then later in the day, people with advanced sleep phase syndrome may work very hard to force themselves to stay awake because of various work or social responsibilities. This pattern can easily lead to having insufficient sleep and increased daytime drowsiness. Because early-morning awakening has been associated with depression , a patient reporting very early waking, fatigue, and low mood could easily be misdiagnosed with clinical depression, leading to inappropriate (and ineffective) treatment.

In some ways, it is easier to cope with advanced sleep phase disorder and going to bed earlier at night, than it is to deal with delayed sleep phase disorder and staying up until the wee hours of the morning (and then needing to get up early to go to work or school). While I have seen a number of patients with advanced sleep phase syndrome over the years, in my experience, it is much less common than delayed sleep phase syndrome. Frequency does increase with age, and there is no reported difference in prevalence between men and women.

The cause of advanced sleep phase disorder is not fully understood. It may be that predisposed individuals are particularly sensitive to the effects of light on their circadian rhythm. It is also possible that the length of an individual’s circadian rhythm is important. Most people have a circadian rhythm somewhat longer than 24 hours. The clock then resets due to light, activity, social interaction, and eating on a daily basis. Individuals who develop advanced sleep phase syndrome may have a circadian rhythm that is shorter than 24 hours. It appears that genetic factors are significant in the development of this disorder as well.

While some people may have a propensity for going to bed early and getting up early, as is the case with “larks,” a diagnosis of advanced sleep phase disorder is only made when there is a chronic or recurrent complaint of going to bed and getting up too early that results in impairment of functioning in social, occupational, or other important realms. We must also point out that other medical or psychological disorders can produce similar symptoms: For example, the early-morning awakening noted above may be associated with a major depressive disorder.

Treatment for circadian rhythm disorders can be challenging. One intervention that is plausible if the patient has a flexible schedule is called chronotherapy. Implementation involves having the person go to bed and get up three hours earlier every two days until they reach the desired bedtime. While this can be helpful, the potential for rapid relapse exists, and it requires constant effort to maintain the new sleep schedule. Another technique is bright light therapy , which employs exposure to a special bright light from 7 to 9 p.m. This therapy should only take place with the supervision of a sleep specialist—if not used properly it could cause further disruption of circadian rhythm and could trigger hypomanic episodes in people with bipolar disorder . Another possible treatment is to take melatonin upon waking up in the morning. It is theorized that this could allow for a later bedtime that evening, just as melatonin used in the afternoon can cause an advanced to an earlier time for people with delayed sleep phase syndrome. This is not a proven method and could cause problems due to the sedating effect of melatonin—which would be unhelpful in the morning.

all my homework i went to bed early

If you are having difficulty staying awake into the evening, and waking up much earlier than desired, you may have an advanced sleep phase disorder. If a circadian rhythm disorder is resulting in damage to your work or social activities, or in increased daytime sleepiness due to an insufficient amount of sleep, arrange an evaluation with a sleep professional rather than experimenting with unproven treatments or struggling to get through your day. It may result in you being alert and up and about when the sun shines, and joining your peers in the Land of Nod when the stars twinkle in the nighttime sky.

Reid, K. J. & Zee, P. C. (2011). Circadian disorders of the sleep-wake cycle in Kryger, M. H., Roth, T. & Dement, W. C. (Eds). Principles and Practice of Sleep Medicine 5th Edition. St. Louis, Missouri: Elsevier Saunders.

John Cline Ph.D.

John Cline, Ph.D. , is a clinical psychologist, Diplomate of the the American Board of Sleep Medicine, a fellow of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and a clinical professor at Yale University.

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Associations of time spent on homework or studying with nocturnal sleep behavior and depression symptoms in adolescents from Singapore

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Past Simple or Present Perfect

  • Thread starter DanStyle
  • Start date Mar 29, 2014
  • Mar 29, 2014

Liam Lew's

Senior member.

DanStyle said: But why? As I know, Present Perfect - a completed action without a SPECIFIC time in the past. We haven't any SPECIFIC time (As I understood). Why we should use past simple ? Click to expand...
The present perfect doesn't seem right to me after "after". Click to expand...
But the speaker is referring to this point in time with the "after", and therefore it's specific. Click to expand...
Compare "I've seen the movie once". Here we are not referring to the time of watching the movie. The time is unimportant here. Click to expand...

e2efour

  • Mar 30, 2014

If you are not limited to single words, it could refer to the future: After he has arrived home, he will unpack and go to bed early. T here are so many possible combinations, it is difficult to know where to start, e.g. After he arrives home, he unpacks and goes to bed early. (habitual action) But with unpacked and went the alternatives are as stated in #2. You don't have to say had arrived since there is no possibility of misunderstanding the sequence of events.  

With after , the tenses have to match, so a present perfect does not work with a past simple. Using present perfect for all three places is not wrong, but there needs to be a reason for it. Here, where the order is chronological, why would you want to use a perfect?  

Schimmelreiter

Schimmelreiter

Forero said: Here, where the order is chronological, why would you want to use a perfect? Click to expand...
Using present perfect for all three places is not wrong, but there needs to be a reason for it. Here, where the order is chronological, why would you want to use a perfect? Click to expand...
DanStyle said: I didn't see any specific time on this sentence, so I decide to choose present perfect. Thank you very much to all!!! Click to expand...

wandle

Schimmelreiter said: You must have misunderstood Forero's reasoning. Click to expand...
  • Mar 31, 2014
I didn't see any specific time i n this sentence, so I decide d to choose present perfect. Click to expand...

I would like to expand a little on what I said before. Nothing about the sentence given prohibits the use of present perfect. When there is a reason for it, the present perfect is fine. If, for example, the sentence in question is preceded by "Whenever he has felt this way, he has always followed the same routine", then the best choice is present perfect in all three places. In such a context, the events are still in chronological sequence, but the whole sequence may have been repeated on multiple occasions. Present perfect is used because the context is a summary of all the time(s) in the past that he has felt this way.  

Past Perfect 1

Daily Routines – Past Tense

List of Daily Routines in the Past Simple Tense in English

(You can hear the pronunciation of each daily routine in the video)

  • I turned off my alarm
  • I took a shower / I had a shower
  • I got dressed
  • I combed my hair
  • I made breakfast
  • I ate breakfast / I had breakfast
  • I brushed my teeth
  • I went to work
  • I started work at 9
  • I answered emails
  • I ate lunch / I had lunch
  • I worked on my computer
  • I finished work at 5
  • I went home
  • I arrived home
  • I fed the dog
  • I cooked dinner
  • I ate dinner / I had dinner
  • I watched TV
  • I read a book
  • I went to bed
  • I fell asleep

Daily routines for School

  • I went to school
  • I had classes
  • I finished school at 3
  • I did my homework

Notice how in this lesson all of these phrases are in the past simple tense and have I (first person singular) as the subject.

Practice Exercises

Video practice: At the end of the video there is a practice exercise where a cartoon of a daily routine appears on the screen. There are also three phrases in the past tense next to the cartoon and you must choose which phrase best describes that activity. The answer will appear after 5 seconds (approximately).

Summary Chart

Daily Routines - Past tense in English

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Past tense in english.

  • Past Simple Tense in English
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IMAGES

  1. Sleep or Do Homework; Which is More Important?

    all my homework i went to bed early

  2. I Finished My Homework I Went To Bed

    all my homework i went to bed early

  3. Premium Photo

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  4. Doing Homework On A Bed Stock Photo

    all my homework i went to bed early

  5. The 12 stages of 'going to bed early' · The Daily Edge

    all my homework i went to bed early

  6. I’m a Stickler for Early Bedtimes

    all my homework i went to bed early

COMMENTS

  1. I fall asleep instantly right after coming home from school ...

    It's always like this. Everytime its around 4:00-5:00 PM I just wanna go to bed fast and because I sleep so early I always forget to do my homework because I will wake up the next day at like 2:30 in the morning. I will always excuse myself that oh, there's homework I can always do that tomorrow.

  2. Those who wake up at 6AM or earlier, how exactly do you do it?

    You just have to get a good nights rest, as in sleep early. In bed by 10-10:30. I dont know your life, but people can usually make time for the things they need/want. I do all my homework and studying early, even when I'm really burnt out from work, or want to "just relax for a few minutes."

  3. Productivity levels at Night versus in the Morning

    I use to get upset when I was sent to bed early and my older cousins were able to stay up as late as they wanted. The bizarre thing is that all throughout high school I would do all my homework throughout the day and go to bed early and now that I’m older I’ve noticed that I leave my homework for the evening and have more energy and am most ...

  4. College students, what study and/or sleep schedule ... - Reddit

    420TinyandMighty. •. I go to sleep around 11-midnight always. Mon, fri, sat are work days Tues & thurs: study 10am-2:15pm, class 2:30-9pm Wed: study 10am-5pm (or later if needed) My study habits got a lot better when i learned about pomodoro (i do 50mins study, 10mins break) and started getting enough sleep regularly!

  5. What Can You Do When You're Too Tired, Too Early?

    Another possible treatment is to take melatonin upon waking up in the morning. It is theorized that this could allow for a later bedtime that evening, just as melatonin used in the afternoon can ...

  6. Associations of time spent on homework or studying with ...

    Participants were asked to indicate the main reason for their bedtime, assessed separately for school days and weekends, by choosing from a list of options, including “I set my bedtime,” “My parents set my bedtime,” “I feel tired or sleepy,” “I finish my homework,” “I finish my video games,” “My brother(s) or sister(s) go ...

  7. Past Simple or Present Perfect | WordReference Forums

    After he has arrived home, he will unpack and go to bed early. There are so many possible combinations, it is difficult to know where to start, e.g. After he arrives home, he unpacks and goes to bed early. (habitual action) But with unpacked and went the alternatives are as stated in #2.

  8. Past Perfect 1 - An English-Zone.Com Quiz

    Maria went to work after she had fed the cat. 8. By the time he got to the theater, the movie had started already. 9. The teacher had given an exam by the time Jorge arrived at school. 10. We played cards for several hours after the children had gone to bed. Past Perfect: An English-Zone.Com Mini-Lesson and Quiz.

  9. How to Go to Sleep Earlier - Sleep Foundation

    Meditation: The practice of quiet, concentrated attention has a number of health benefits. Meditation near bedtime may help reduce anxiety that might otherwise keep you awake, limit symptoms of insomnia, and reduce sleep disturbances. Reading: Reading a book is another good way to relax and induce sleepiness.

  10. Daily Routines – Past Tense - Woodward English

    Daily routines for School. I went to school. I had classes. I ate lunch / I had lunch. I finished school at 3. I went home. I did my homework. Notice how in this lesson all of these phrases are in the past simple tense and have I (first person singular) as the subject.