You Callin’ Me Lazy?

FINALLY I am vindicated! Science has established that I am NOT a “lazy good-for-nothing” . I am a genetically programmed DNA hotwired Night Owl. Apparently 30% of us humans fall into this bracket. (And I wonder how many of that category are artists). The Others, yes THEM, are the 40% Morning Larks (*spit*) and the rest, poor sods, fall somewhere in between.

I’ve always aspired to be an Early Morning Person, probably because my beloved father Lawrence Said was. I have vivid memories of finding him, sometime around sunrise, sitting on the veranda of our Jumeirah (Dubai) beach house in his dressing gown having a coffee serenely gazing out at the white sandy beach and the azure sea beyond. This was usually on a jet-lagged morning after a long haul flight from the UK. It would be an Easter or Xmas school holiday, so the early morning air would be balmy, sometimes chilly, carrying the scent of the damp desert which had adhered to the belly of a long travelled breeze.

Those were delightful times of the year when the temperature was mercifully winding down to a humanly tolerable level. Or yet to crank up to a hell’s kitchen heat which could singe the back of your throat when you inhaled. It was the scent on the air of both extremes- one hinting of the approaching onslaught of summer’s swelter and the other easing into the damp mercy of winter- which form some of the strongest memories of my life there. And they are somehow inextricably attached to my memories of my father.

I’m plodding through neuroscientist #MatthewWalker’s fascinating book “Why We Sleep”. I say plodding because on every other page I stop to scribble notes in the margins “Yeah!” “Aha!”. I’m clearly a Night Owl Groucho Maximus. Attempt to wake me before my bio clock has said okay happy camper! time to wake up, and I’ll release a low flying volley of grumpiness which will make you wonder if you had just tried to light the oven when it had a gas leak. You’ll be lucky to get away only with singed eyebrows.

This is why, twice in my life when I’ve attempted to hold down a 9-5 job I’ve been unceremoniously fired after, maximum, 9 months. Since them early days of trying to conform to a bio rhythm clearly not in synch with my own, I’ve been blessed to be able to successfully forge a lifestyle as an independent self employed artist who wakes up when she wants to and sleeps at whatever witching hour when the compulsive drive to create has expended itself. Of course I can wake up early if necessary, bolstered by several slugs of coffee, but it can be painful. For those around me.

Matthew Walker has me nailed. “Night owls don’t function well if woken early because despite being “awake” their brains remain in a more sleep-like state–like a cold engine after an early morning start, it takes a long time before it warms up to operating temperatures.” Halleluja! It’s all about MELATONIN. Otherwise known as “the Vampire hormone” because it slowly starts releasing itself into our physical system as soon as the sun sets and dictates that we will slowly but surely wind down into a state of sleep. (But that’s a bit contradictory since vampires come alive at night). It works fine for the 40+% Morning Larks. What of us Night Owls? Are we bio-genetically hotwired vampires? Why does research suggest that the most intelligent and most creative minds fall into the Night Owl category when other research states that humans are “solar powered” beings who thrive best when we synchronise our wake and sleep habits according to the earth’s cycle of light and dark?

I get my biggest creative hit when I’m working alone burning the midnight oil. When phones don’t ring, traffic is lulled, the entire landscape is slumbering. And I’m blissfully immersed in a high octane charged bubble of creative energy. Are you also a creative spirit with vampire tendencies?