Slashdot Mirror


Don't Hate Perky Morning People: It Might Be Their DNA's Fault. (arstechnica.com)

New submitter Striek writes: Aggregated genome data from 23andme.com was analyzed and published in Nature magazine, and now further evidence has been added to the belief that being a morning person or a night owl is wired in our DNA. It's not the first time such research has been published, either. So those of us who work late into the night and prefer to rise at noon, much to the chagrin of our partners, can point to our DNA as the reason, not our lazy habits.

22 of 110 comments (clear)

  1. You Live In The Wrong Time Zone. by zenlessyank · · Score: 3, Funny

    Move.

  2. Re:Age might be a factor too... by alvinrod · · Score: 4, Funny

    My grandfather once told me that every morning at 6 he would have a healthy bowel movement. The only problem was he usually didn't wake up until 7.

  3. I don't hate morning people. by MrKrillls · · Score: 3, Funny

    I hate their DNA.

    --
    Don't step on the baby.
    1. Re:I don't hate morning people. by TWX · · Score: 3, Funny

      I hate their DNA.

      I have a general rule, that I do not judge people on things like ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and other things that they are born-with and are beyond their control.

      In this case I would have to make an exception.

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
  4. backwards premise by ThorGod · · Score: 4, Informative

    In my experience it's the "morning people" that are judgey against non-morning people. It seems like it should be morning people that shouldn't hold their genes as "superior"

    --
    PS: I don't reply to ACs.
    1. Re:backwards premise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Agreed. I'll stop hating them when they stop requiring everything to be done in the morning and when working an extra 3 hours is considered better than coming in 20 minutes earlier and goofing off for 40 minutes.

    2. Re: backwards premise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Seriously. If you are the first person through the door every morning, that's great for you. Please don't complain about how other people choose to structure their day. Punctuality is a small part of work.

  5. We don't hate them because they are perky.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Us non-morning people don't hate morning people because they are perky. We hate them because they assume that everybody else should be a morning person too. Every asshole that suggests things like a 7:30am meeting is just rubbing their early-rising do-gooderness instead the late-riser's faces. They know you feel like a slacker if you suggest to your boss that it's too early for you. In offices with set-your-own-schedule, morning people also like to point out people who "show up late". "Geez, Bob, it's past 10. You're just coming in?!".... Despite the fact you stay at work until 9pm, the early risers who left at 5pm never notice or give credit to the people who stay late. To them they act like the world ceases at 5 in the afternoon until they come in again at 7am. I have so many minor knit-picks over this that bile is starting to form in my throat. I think I'll end.

    1. Re:We don't hate them because they are perky.... by Guybrush_T · · Score: 2

      The opposite is true also. Some arrive at 9am and ask those who leave at 5pm "did you take your PM off ?". Depends on the company, depends on the country, depends on the persons.

  6. Ok, fine. by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 3, Funny

    If it's so genetic, I'll agree to drop the hatred and adopt an attitude of dispassionate eugenics. Happy now, Mr. Sunshine?

  7. Alternative mating strategies by Bruce66423 · · Score: 2

    Perhaps the answer is that people bifurcate because this allows each a better mating strategy; the existence of both group increases the possibilities for non-monogamous behavior, increasing the prospects of otherwise infertile couples of having children...

    1. Re:Alternative mating strategies by Quirkz · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Or distributing childcare duties. Or splitting the night watch into a natural late shift and early shift.

  8. got it by superwiz · · Score: 2

    Don't hate em. Hate their DNA. And they are full of it.

    --
    Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
  9. There are two kinds of people in the world... by sconeu · · Score: 4, Funny

    There are two kinds of people in the world...

    Those who are bright and cheerful in the morning,
    And those who want to take a wrench and beat the shit out of the first kind.*

    *proud member of the second category

    --
    General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
  10. Re:bad logic by rmandevi · · Score: 2

    I misread your post; I thought that you had said "litigate" rather than "mitigate". Somehow, that works too.

    --
    People who live in glass houses shouldn't walk and text.
  11. More free time DNA by allcoolnameswheretak · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I don't know if I'm a morning person or not. What I do know is that I go to sleep late because I want more me-time.

  12. Re:Man, I hate... by sjames · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Imagine your delight if someone breezed in and dragged you out of bed at 3:00 A.M. every day and expected you to be not just coherent but actually enthusiastic.

  13. Re:Man, I hate... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Better analogy: imagine if you were expected to show up for meetings at 7pm and work until 1am and be not just coherent but actually enthusiastic.

    Morning people are proud of their supposed virtue and work ethic until the clock hits 6pm and they start yawning like a bunch of pussy lightweights. These shits will never know what it's like to hammer out 6 weeks of code in a single night of caffeine fueled mania.

  14. Re:Man, I hate... by Hognoxious · · Score: 2

    morning people make the world go round.

    You should wear a top hat and say that in a German accent while dancing with Liza Minelli.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  15. Re:Man, I hate... by sjames · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So you personally choose to flagellate yourself daily so you figure that gives you the moral right to expect it of everyone else? I choose to stay up late. Why don't you quit being a lazy bum and stay up too?

  16. I think the influence is mild by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I have always enjoyed sleeping in late and had trouble staying awake in the 8am classes. But finished college and had trouble showing up for work at 8 am. When the daughter came along, I had to get up early so that I could return early and take care of her. That sort of set the habit and now I am up at 5am weekdays even when I stay up watch the election debate till 11:30. And can't stay in bed after 7 on weekends.

    I don't think I got it through DNA. Mainly circumstances and habit. If at all there was influence from DNA it is quite mild.

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    1. Re:I think the influence is mild by Gilgaron · · Score: 2

      Kids are certainly a system shock as far as sleep goes... I have either learned how to let part of my brain sleep while I'm otherwise lucid enough to function minimally intensive tasks or it is just what happens in a sleep deprived state. It makes my head tingle and I don't feel like I missed as much sleep as I did the next morning.