Random musings: More about #SleepAwarenessWeek #TBT

Today's blog post was originally published last year:

Yesterday, I wrote about Napping Day and Sleep Awareness Week.

In yesterday's post there were 5 steps to getting better sleep...step number one was:

Step 1: Determine your chronotype and calculate your bedtime, and stick to your schedule 7 days a week.

If you don't know your chronotype, or even what a chronotype is, then check out this post from two years ago.

This post was inspired by a virtual workshop put on for AT&T managers called "The Power of When", which was based on the book of the same name by Dr. Michael J. Breus.

The 5 W's and an H

I'm sure you all remember learning about the questions who, what, when, where, why (the 5 w's) and how (the h) in school.

In the introduction to the book, Dr. Breus talks about "how to" books. He also included "what to" books in this category...what to say, what to do, etc. But he says a crucial element is missing and you may guess from the title of his book, the "when" is missing.

I did a post a while back on "DIKW", which stands for data, information, knowledge and wisdom. Data is unprocessed strings of letters, numbers or characters. Information, though, answers the who, what, when and where questions, while knowledge answers the how question and wisdom answers the why question.

Most how to books tell you what to do and how to do it. The who is usually assumed to be you and the where may not be important...but they seem to neglect the when aspect. So, the information part of the hierarchy is incomplete and incomplete information makes it difficult to accomplish the how part. And why you do, or don't do, something is unique to you.

What does all of this have to do with Lions and Dolphins and Bears (and Wolves)?

You're probably familiar with night owls and larks, the early bird who gets the worm. There are also hummingbirds, the majority, who are neither early or late risers. Those categories measured wakefulness preference only. There is also something called sleep drive, which is the need for sleep. Sleep drive is genetic...some people have a need for more sleep than others.

Also, personality type ties in with the sleep drive and wakefulness preference. Morning types tend to be more health conscious while evening types tend to be impulsive. Neither tends to be easygoing.The three types: owls, larks and hummingbirds don't take into account the 10% of the population who are insomniacs. Since three types were insufficient and since we're mammals and not birds, Dr. Breus came up with four chrono-types. These are the names of the four chrono-types that Dr. Breus defines in his book:

Lions - Real lions are morning hunters. These people are morning oriented, driven, optimists with a medium sleep drive

Dolphins - Real dolphins sleep with only half their brain at a time. The other half is awake and alert...swimming and looking for predators. Human dolphin types are intelligent, neurotic light sleepers with a low sleep drive (I'm a dolphin)

Bears - Real bears are go with the flow ramblers, good sleepers and anytime hunters. Human bears are fun loving, outgoing extroverts who prefer a solar based schedule and have a high sleep drive

Wolves - Wolves are nocturnal hunters. And wolf types are night oriented, creative extroverts with a medium sleep drive

The book goes on to describe when each of the four types should do many different activities, including when to eat, sleep, wake up, exercise, sell stuff, buy stuff and have sex!

Take the quiz and leave a comment on your type and what kind of info you're looking for and I'll send you a few tips.And since personality types are mentioned, take this quiz and share your personality type also (I'm an Analytical Thinker).

With this information and a how to book, you'll have almost everything you'll need to change almost any aspect of your life. The only thing missing is your why (check out the link above for my DIKW post to find out how to find your why).