# Night Owl behavior correlates to high I.Q.



## sonicdrink (Aug 11, 2010)

> Smart people SLEEP LATE
> New research bound to re-ignite old debate about early versus late risers
> 
> By: Robert Alison
> ...


Source: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/westview/smart-people-sleep-late-82486792.html




> Andrea Zvinakis, I took a sleep class.
> 
> Here are three studies that suggest that the answer to this question is yes:
> 
> ...


What do you guys think about this?

Personally, this rings true. I have never taken the real I.Q. test, but I consider myself a smart person, and I have been a night owl since I was young.

(there are also more articles if you scroll down.)


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## Thrifty Walrus (Jul 8, 2010)

I don't fully understand how being a "night owl" demonstrates "a higher cognitive complexity".... I wish it would explain that more. It seems more like a coincidence than anything. This one singular study doesn't prove much. If there were more like this that had similar results, then there would be a pattern, but still, the reason for it happening is pretty weak. So for now, I'm leaning towards coincidence than anything. But that is just my skeptical self being me. It is very intriguing nonetheless and I would enjoy reading about similar studies if you find any more :happy:


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## Mutatio NOmenis (Jun 22, 2009)

Hasn't this already been brought up? Still a neat article. My mom is the average one in the family and she goes to sleep at 10. My dad is extremely smart, so he goes at 11. Brother goes at 12. I go at 1.


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## sonicdrink (Aug 11, 2010)

This one seems a bit more skewed, because it's only of people in their 20s (and from America, so it's ethnocentric). However the previous article dictated that the age when we are our "smartest" is 17-20 so.... yeah, it wouldn't really convince me, but it still supports the correlation.



> Amplify’d from Psychology Today: Health, Help, Happiness + Find a Therapist
> 
> Night owls are smarter than other people, and now we may know why. The modern world contains many features our slow-to-evolve brains still find unfamiliar—cars, TVs, hot dogs on a stick. But the world has always thrown new stuff at us, and brighter humans may adapt more ably.
> 
> ...


Personally, if I wasn't assimilated into the work world, my preference would be to stay up til about 3-5 a.m., and then get up around 11 or 3.:crazy:


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## sonicdrink (Aug 11, 2010)

Ooooh, I'm really liking this one.



> Intelligence Levels in Insomnia Patients
> January 20th, 2008 | Author: Dr. Krakow
> 
> At the CPAPTALK.com forum, a question was raised about my frequent comments in my book, Sound Sleep, Sound Mind, about higher intelligence levels among insomnia patients. The following is the post I wrote on that issue:
> ...


Source: Intelligence Levels in Insomnia Patients | Sleep Dynamic Therapy

I also added some articles to the thread starting post.


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## ThisIsWhereIrunAway (Oct 25, 2010)

well sureeee yeaaa ill agree since i stay up late :crazy:

no but seriously.... i think it prolly correlates with Ne..... and I saw someplace that IN's tend to get higher on the iq test..... so hey.... prolly has to do with a mix being an IN or having Ne


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## noz (Dec 7, 2009)

Ne and coffee + pop tarts at 11pm~ :crazy:


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## snail (Oct 13, 2008)

My guess is that this relates to the correlation between IQ and the Introversion/iNtuition combination. From what I have observed, IN__ types seem to prefer the quiet time after everyone else has gone to bed because there are fewer distractions and interruptions. This allows us to focus more easily and to ride our waves of inspiration as far as they will take us. I suspect that if the rest of the world were nocturnal, we would remain the exceptions and would become diurnal.

I would also like to note that being a night person doesn't necessarily mean we get more or less sleep than other people. I stay up until the early hours of morning before the sun has come up, and while others see me sleeping all day and assume I am lazy, they often fail to take into consideration the fact that they are asleep during the times when my mind is most active and my body is most energized. I've seen essays on the topic that claim increased creativity in nocturnal types is related to sleep deprivation, and others that suggest clear-headedness comes from being well-rested. I think both hypotheses are wrong. I think certain personality types are naturally prone to prefer certain times of day because those times allow their dominant processes to work most efficiently.

(Just for perspective, I will mention that I'm mostly nocturnal, with a sleep cycle that shifts gradually forward. I have the IN__ combination. My IQ was last tested as 145, when I was in high school.)


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## mnemonicfx (Sep 5, 2010)

Once I scored an IQ of 140. I think it's around 6 years old. Then I scored 128 around maybe 10 - 12 years old. Now, I have a sleeping pattern like this:

Weekday: 10:00 A.M. - 6:00 P.M.
Weekend: 2:00 A.M. - 10:00 A.M.

I could sleep at night and get up early on weekends, because I don't have much "thinking activity" to do in those days, and I want to go out sometimes. This cycle could change depending on how I want myself to be normal.

I don't know my IQ right now. But, I think IQ should not be the determining factor of Night Owl behavior.
A high activity on certain parts of the brain that correlates to certain types of thinking should be the most determining factor.

I think this is what the article mentioned as the "active and ruminating" mind. I'm not convinced that IQ should have anything much to do with how we use our brain at certain time according to our biological clock.


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## ams (Nov 22, 2010)

Since I don't find the Intelligence Quotient a reliable measure of intelligence, I can't agree completely. I do believe that there is truth to this though, and I'll use my personal thoughts on the subject to clarify. 

As Snail said a few posts up, I think this has more to do with certain personality types than one's level of intelligence. Some personality types may score better on the IQ tests as a result of their abstract thinking, which would cause a pattern that could be misinterpreted. I for one prefer to stay up at night because I don't like dealing with people. I love stepping out and seeing the empty streets and not having to deal with traffic or people getting between me and my destination. I like the peace and quiet at night, I feel like I have a burst of energy when the sun goes down. Maybe that's the feeling I get knowing that I'll get some peace and quiet.

I don't understand how you can relate someone's activities or environmental preferences to their intelligence level, doesn't really make sense to me. But when you say that certain personality types prefer to be night owls, that probably holds some truth.


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