Are you a lark, an owl, or a third bird? Our exploration into idioms and proverbs takes a fascinating twist as we dive headfirst into the world of circadian rhythms and productivity.
Next, we turn our attention to the impact of different chronotypes on our daily routines. With the help of cutting-edge research, we explore these questions and more, suggesting ways you can optimize your schedule based on your chronotype.
Finally, we delve into the profound effects of circadian rhythms on our overall health. From investigating the correlation between night owls and health issues to discussing the significance of good sleep hygiene, we leave no stone unturned. So, whether you pride yourself on catching the worm or being the second mouse to the cheese this episode is for you!
Interact with us at myunoriginalthoughtpodcast@gmail.com. What did you like and what would you want to see in the future? Which idiom do you want us to explore next time? If you have any insight on today's topic, something I missed or didn’t get right, or if you want to be featured in a future What the Idiom? segment let me know.
SWAG! Looking for My Unoriginal Thought post its, notebooks, coffee mugs? Look no farther! Click here for awesome swag!
Are you a lark, an owl, or a third bird? Our exploration into idioms and proverbs takes a fascinating twist as we dive headfirst into the world of circadian rhythms and productivity.
Next, we turn our attention to the impact of different chronotypes on our daily routines. With the help of cutting-edge research, we explore these questions and more, suggesting ways you can optimize your schedule based on your chronotype.
Finally, we delve into the profound effects of circadian rhythms on our overall health. From investigating the correlation between night owls and health issues to discussing the significance of good sleep hygiene, we leave no stone unturned. So, whether you pride yourself on catching the worm or being the second mouse to the cheese this episode is for you!
Interact with us at myunoriginalthoughtpodcast@gmail.com. What did you like and what would you want to see in the future? Which idiom do you want us to explore next time? If you have any insight on today's topic, something I missed or didn’t get right, or if you want to be featured in a future What the Idiom? segment let me know.
SWAG! Looking for My Unoriginal Thought post its, notebooks, coffee mugs? Look no farther! Click here for awesome swag!
Oh you, oh yeah. Hello, podcast family, this is your unoriginal host, afton Jay, and I'm happy to be hanging out with you wherever you are today. I started this podcast because I've always loved fun facts, history and culture. I consume so many books and podcasts that it made sense I would find friends out there that loved some of the same things that I do. And boom, my unoriginal thought podcast was born.
Speaker 1:
I don't know how many other nerds out there are going to want to hear about the fascinating world of idioms, but we're going to go on this adventure together. Let's get into the intellectual journey that is this episode. As always, none of what we'll talk about today is my original thoughts, but I'll attempt to repackage other people's original ideas and talk through them so we can learn and laugh together. I'm going to try to bring you the most interesting and useless knowledge in the most thought provoking and entertaining way. I know how. Okay, let's do this.
Speaker 1:
Today's episode is the early bird gets the worm Rise and shine. The early bird gets the worm. To any motivated morning person, this might be enough to get you leaping out of bed to start your list of awesome daily activities, ready to take on the world and get everything on your to-do list accomplished. To any non-morning person, these words could be the most annoying thing you hear all day. Why wake up with a crack of dawn when all you want to do is sleep in because you have all night to be up and get the things done, as the night owl you are, regardless if you're a morning lark or a night owl. This expression is super interesting and deserves to be explained. Let's start with the origin of the saying. Here's the part of the show where we play this super fun game. What the Idiom where we have unsuspecting friends. Guess the origin of this week's phrase. Let's start with our first friend. Where do you think the early bird gets the worm comes from Like? What is the origin of that proverb?
Speaker 2:
I think it's the bird that wakes up the earliest in the morning gets the worms, because the worms come out of the ground in the morning.
Speaker 1:
Yeah that's what it means. Where do you think the origin comes from?
Speaker 2:
I have no idea.
Speaker 1:
If you had to take a guess where do you think it comes from? The period it comes from, who thought of it? Why they thought of it?
Speaker 2:
I would say farmers, worm farmers. They would be like oh, that early bird got up before me and ate all my worms. That's where I think it comes from.
Speaker 1:
That's a good story, the worm farmers.
Speaker 2:
Worm farmers. Okay, you can google it Solid.
Speaker 1:
I googled that answer and unfortunately I did not find anything about worm farmers. Good guess, but that answer is incorrect. Maybe our next friend has a better guess. Where do you think the origin of the early bird gets the worm originally comes from?
Speaker 3:
Oh, the early bird gets the worm. I would imagine it would have something to do with hunting or fishing or something along those lines. I mean the origin. Nowadays we think of it as hey, wake up, get after it, go correct your day Back then I feel like it's a hunt to survive or a fish to survive. You should probably wake up early to go do so.
Speaker 1:
You're saying some random dove hunter, slash fisherman was like hey, broskies, the early bird gets the worm. And the rest of them were like oh yeah, yeah, that's gold.
Speaker 3:
Oh yeah, yep, the early bird gets the worm.
Speaker 1:
My brother was like well, what if you're the worm? I have not thought about it from that perspective. So then the late worm stays alive Very true, very true, okay, yeah, yeah that's 100 percent, not it, but that was a great job. Hunter slash Fishermen. Good try, but we still have not explained the origin of this idiom. Let's try one more guess. Where do you think the early bird gets the worm comes?
Speaker 4:
from. I feel like it sounds silly to say like, oh, like it's an England term, I don't know like. To me this is gonna sound so stupid. To me it sounds like fancy, like an old English expression, you know. So I would say I don't know like, can you really like an old English dude? That's what I feel like that expression would come from.
Speaker 5:
It wasn't an old.
Speaker 4:
English dude. I'm so proud of myself.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, yeah, it was an old English dude that wrote an old English book.
Speaker 4:
You nailed it. Oh my gosh. Okay, I'm like wow, I should go get my doctorate in English.
Speaker 2:
You should go get your doctorate.
Speaker 4:
I'm the smartest woman alive. I'm the smartest. I always wondered, too, where that comes from. Like the early bird gets the worm, like it's just something. Like I feel like everyone has heard their whole life. I know that is the point of the podcast. I love it.
Speaker 1:
All of these grusses are so funny. Thank you for everyone that played along. Now let's get back to the origin story First of all.
Speaker 1:
Someone say this is not an idiom, but a proverb An idiom being a saying that are often less clear and need some context to understand. A proverb provides a piece of universally accepted knowledge. I think this expression is pretty clear, the bird being you and the worm being well the prize, we get it. It's not as complex as some sayings like bite the bullet or blood is thicker than water, which we'll explain in future episodes. Shameless plug keep listening. The Cambridge dictionary defines the meaning as a saying that means someone will have an advantage if they do something immediately or before other people do it. Other definitions state this is an old proverb which emphasizes the importance of starting something early to maximize the potential outcome. All of the research says that the definitions are always something of this nature If you do things early, you will be rewarded. As an extreme planner, I would say I live and die by this statement, but for my non-planers out there, I know this can make you absolutely cringe. I have friends that are always doing things by the seat of their pants and it seems to work out for them.
Speaker 1:
This English expression was said to have first appeared in 1605 in a book of Proverbs by William Camden. However, some say the text was not actually added until the third edition in 1623. It was a collection of themed historical essays conceived as a more popular companion to his book Britannia. This was the only book Camden wrote in English. His other works were in Latin and written as serious works. He describes the work as merely being the rude and rubble, out-cash rubbish of a greater, more serious work, which was Britannia. For being just a rude, rubble and out-cash rubbish, his expression has lasted the test of time. Can you imagine if William Camden was here today and he was able to see what happened to his proverb? I can just imagine him being like. For what is this? Tiktok-ith and me-myth. Okay, that's a horrible impression, but can you imagine? It showed up again in 1670, and it was published in a book of a collection of English Proverbs by John Ray. However, the fact that it was in this book of well-established proverbs at the time shows that it had likely been an important figure of speech in the English language for quite some time before that and it had been used before it was put in the book.
Speaker 1:
This is a literary classic that you've probably already read, but let me remind you what John Ray said about our idiom here. As it was stated by Mr Ray, "'tis the early bird that catcheth the worm". We have modernized the saying. Now, as most people would say, the early bird catches the worm or the early bird gets the worm Not as fancy as the way Mr Ray says it, but it all means the same thing, and if you really want to annoy your night owl friends the next time you wake them up at the crack of dawn, you might try the old school version of the saying "'Good morning. Tis the early bird that catches the worm'". I'm sure they will love that. This phrase is so commonly used that it's even shortened to early bird on occasion, such as early bird specials that you might see in restaurants or stores. The phrase early bird might conjure up the picture of old people eating dinner at 4.30 or getting half price tickets at the movie theater for anyone too tired to see the movie at 9pm, which I now understand why this can be popular.
Speaker 1:
As I get older, I too want dinner early and I just want to go to bed. Saturday nights for me now are working, eating, writing the podcast and then going to bed at like 8.30. I'm super exciting now that I'm in my 30s. In my 20s I could get all the worms all morning and stay up all night with the night owls. Now I would just die. Maybe Mr Camden was in his 30s when he wrote the saying for his first book. I can imagine him slumped over his wooden chair, quill in hand, thinking about what to do that night. I'm like do I hang it out with my friends at the old yee-pub or catch a poetry reading? Maybe I will eat dinner at 4.30 and go to bed and rise to awaken and be productive like the birds that catch the worms. That's a really horrible impression, but I can just imagine that happening.
Speaker 1:
Now that we have discussed the origins of the early bird gets the worm, how do we use this phrase? Does the early bird really get the worm For morning people or night people? More successful research conducted is polarizing and contradictory. However, there is some very interesting research about morning larks and night owls. The first book we will talk about is Daniel H Pink's bestseller when the Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing. I loved this book. He has several books on interesting topics, but for someone who loves understanding how humans tick, this book is amazing. I learned so much about myself and how to make my day more productive. It's engaging and worth a listen on Audible or a Good Read. The link is in my podcast notes. Here are some very interesting tidbits from the book that are worth checking out.
Speaker 1:
One of the main points of the book states that, regardless of age, race, gender and nationality, we all go through some variants of behavioral patterns on a daily basis. It's good to be aware of these patterns so we can understand our emotions and be more productive during our day. Our behavior is driven by factors to include our circadian rhythm, which drives our highs and lows throughout the day. Over time, we can map out what our natural rhythms are and determine what our chronotype is. A chronotype is the scientific term for what we commonly refer to as an internal clock, as we generally talk about internal clocks in terms of our natural inclination to fall asleep and wake up at certain hours of the day.
Speaker 1:
Chronotypes are in charge of much more than just our sleep cycle. Our personal chronotype impacts what type of day that you're most focused, most creative and most likely to make a mistake, most likely to be in a good or even a bad mood, and so much more. Daniel Pink goes on to describe these types of people in his book, which are the lark, the owl and the third bird. Larks they are what you would consider morning people. On their own accord, and not even because of work or an alarm, they will typically get out of bed before 7 am.
Speaker 1:
Third birds are the most common chronotype. They are naturally inclined to wake up between 7 to 10 am. Night owls these are our night people. On days when they don't have to get up for work or some other obligation, they don't like to get out of bed until after 10 am. Now that we know what a chronotype is, what's yours, have you ever thought about what time you wake up and how it can affect your daily schedule? I've asked some friends about their daily habits to see how the research lines up with real life. What time would your body normally wake up?
Speaker 2:
5.30.
Speaker 1:
Okay, so you're an early bird. What time do you think your body should be doing analytical tasks?
Speaker 2:
7.
Speaker 1:
Is that when you think that your mind works best on analytical tasks.
Speaker 2:
Maybe yeah.
Speaker 1:
What about creative tasks?
Speaker 2:
Maybe 10. 10 o'clock, I'm not sure if I'm a first cup of coffee.
Speaker 1:
That's when you're like the most creative. Uh-huh. Okay, what about in the afternoon? What do you think that's good for? Uh?
Speaker 2:
work.
Speaker 5:
What kind of work?
Speaker 2:
Manual labor.
Speaker 1:
Okay, yeah, all that makes sense. What time does your body naturally wake up?
Speaker 4:
Oh, like me personally. Yeah, you personally. Okay, I feel like I'm definitely an early bird. So out an alarm. Like my body, I feel like, naturally wakes up let's say a weekend day, I naturally wake up by like 6 am.
Speaker 1:
Then you are actually an early bird. Your class five is an early bird. What time do you think, personally, is the best time of day for you to get analytical?
Speaker 4:
tasks done Charts, graphs, masks, etc. I would say probably in the morning I feel like the most charged and maybe after being awake for an hour I feel like a little bit more alert, like I could figure things out and take a look at stuff. So I would say the morning.
Speaker 1:
You know, actually you might really like this book. If you're an early bird, you should do your analytical tasks in the morning, when you have more energy in your charge. In the afternoon, after that lunch slump, when you're tired, you should do your creative tasks. But I super interesting that they say that like for kids, like if your kid is an early bird and you try to put them in a mask in the afternoon, they could actually get like worst grades and not even know it was just this switch from morning to afternoon could change their grades. So I got used by that.
Speaker 4:
Oh, interesting, it's so funny. Like my class, we actually the grade level that I'm following this year we actually swapped our subject areas, so we are teaching math in the morning and reading in the afternoon. Yeah, they say it's better for kids.
Speaker 5:
Interesting, interesting and I like to get things done, but I do like to sleep in to about nine. I can't stay up. I mean nine is actually pretty late for me.
Speaker 1:
So somewhere between like seven and nine, you'd be like a third bird I love it.
Speaker 3:
Yep, you're a third bird.
Speaker 5:
Okay, what are you?
Speaker 1:
I'm a third bird. If I let my body sleep, it like wants to wake up at 7 am.
Speaker 5:
Yes.
Speaker 1:
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 5:
Yeah, Like I would toss and turn like just get up, it's not worth it.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah, but I mean it definitely. It was interesting talking to my brother because we're both like that, but because of our jobs, if we're puffed, our schedules and circadian rhythms it messes everything up, right.
Speaker 5:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah it's. I mean you know that it's not good for you, but like, yeah, I like what I do. I don't like doing it at 2 am.
Speaker 5:
But right, right Sure.
Speaker 1:
Right now. If you let your body wake up at its time that it wants to wake up, at what time would that be for you? 9 am. Okay so your natural time that you wake up is 9 am. Yes, what point in the day do you feel like it is easiest for you to do analytical tasks like facts or figures, or Excel sheets or numbers?
Speaker 3:
I guess I'll say night. Honestly I've done most of my business growth has been at night and business meeting like analytical things, building systems and processes, and stuff like that all happen 8 pm and beyond.
Speaker 1:
So when do you think you do your more creative tasks, like you know, creating your advertisements or like just thinking about abstract things for your business? What time of day is normally good for that for you?
Speaker 3:
Throughout the day. I think or see a lot of things like whether I'm talking to clients or coaches or social media or reading emails, and it inspires me to do something, and so that inspiration comes throughout the day, which then gives me that whole nighttime vibe of oh, I need to go do this, I need to execute on it right now. So I still feel like it's not right.
Speaker 1:
Are you? Do you think that you've always been someone that naturally wakes up at 9 am, or do you think it's changed over your lifetime?
Speaker 3:
I feel like so. I guess when I was younger I woke up a little later, so probably at 10 or 11, like most teenagers did. I've never been a morning person, so I have to have an alarm to wake me up. Very interesting.
Speaker 1:
Okay, I'm glad I asked you this question.
Speaker 3:
So what is it if I'm a night owl? What does that say about how awesome I am?
Speaker 4:
You said that was awesome.
Speaker 1:
14% of the population are larks, 21% of the population are owls and the rest of us are somewhere in between the third bird. Over 80% of folks go into the lark and third bird category, meaning they should do analytical, logic-based work in the mornings, when they're most alert. More creative tasks, where it's helpful if your mind wanders, should be reserved for the late afternoon. Larks should do the same, but earlier and night owls want to do cognitive work late at night. For analytical tasks, most people perform better in the morning. A University of Chicago study found that scheduling math classes in the first two periods of a day rather than the last two significantly boosted students' math GPA. If you think about the implications of this information, it could change your workplace, your kids' schooling or even your personal relationships. Innovation and creativity are actually higher in the afternoon, when our energy levels and focus drop. We are less constrained during the afternoon, after that trough the lunch and more likely to take leaps of insight Again. Think about how this could change your workday if you organize your tasks to this mental state.
Speaker 1:
So how do you determine what kind of bird you are? Research shows there are lots of different things that play into whether you are a morning or a night person and they can change over time. Circadian rhythms, age, genetics, lifestyle and now technology all play critical roles in determining your chronotype. Your chronotype can also change over time or depending on what environment you are in. How do you determine yours? Some people naturally know when they are most alert, but if you wanted to get a good quiz, you can go to Psych Central. The link is in the show notes. There are so many interesting chronotype things that we could talk about and if you are interested, I would definitely do some research so you can learn a little bit more, and I highly recommend the book when Try to Give it a Read. Now. Let's look at some more humorous research that's been done on the topic. Who's Smarter, the Lark or the Owl?
Speaker 1:
Ben Franklin, the most famous founding father and noted Lark, once advocated for a Lark lifestyle. In a famous saying early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. It seemed to work for him. He did everything under the sun, including being a founding father. He would travel all over the place. He invented stuff. He just had so much energy. I wish I had that type of motivation or time.
Speaker 1:
Researchers in 1998 analyzed a national sample of men and women who'd been surveyed years earlier on sleep patterns, as well as measures related to wealth, health and wisdom. Half were Larks and half were Owls. Contrary to Franklin's decree, night owls had larger incomes than morning Larks. The two chronotypes were also scored roughly the same on cognitive tests and showed no self or doctor reported health differences. However, another Lark versus Owl study published the following year looked more closely at the question of brains.
Speaker 1:
Psychologist Richard D Roberts of the University of Sydney and Patrick C Klein of the Air Force Research Laboratory measured the chronotype of test participants and then gave them two intelligence tests Together. The tasks measured vocational knowledge ie mechanics and engineering, general math, reading comprehension, working memory and processing speed. The results of this test did show that evening types have a slight intellectual advantage. Night owls outperform morning Larks on most of the intelligence measures, with significant differences on working memory and processing speed. Especially interesting was that the findings seemed to hold up even when the cognitive tests were taken in the morning, which would have been difficult for the night owls. So, according to the studies, night owls might be smarter and make more money. Okay, but who has the most game?
Speaker 1:
Evening types weren't just good at scoring on intelligence tests, they also might be good at scoring in general. See what I did there. At least, that is according to one 2012 paper. The study led by Christoph Randler of the University of Education in Heidelberg in Germany tested 284 male participants for their chronotype and their sexual behavior. Owls reported more total partners. This held true even when Randler and company controlled for age, extraversion and a tendency to stay out leader. Evening types were also more closely linked to infidelity. The test was only performed on male owls, I'm just saying Owls were also linked to be more partial to habits like smoking and drinking. Research was not clear on whether the link is that the owls have more addictive personalities or that these activities are just associated with nightlife.
Speaker 1:
Yeah okay, owls might be smarter, have more money and have more luck in the bedroom, but are larks happier? This is a complicated question. Larks may be happier because being a lark conforms to standard social norms. They get up and they're alerted. During normal 9-5 business hours, they can get their work and chores done while getting a full night's rest. Owls don't conform to social hours and therefore need to break their sleeping cycle to perform normal tasks like work or errands. Social scientists call this outcome social jet lag.
Speaker 1:
Evening types that force themselves to wake up early and perform at their peak during the day might cause themselves some sleep loss and emotional distress. They might also be less happy as a result. University of Toronto psychologists, in a 2012 paper, after studying the chronotypes of over 800 people as well as their moods, found that morning people had a higher positive affect compared with night people. Mood isn't the same as general happiness, but overall, our larks seem to be happier on a daily basis. Other studies have stated that larks tend to be more agreeable, conscientious and proactive than owls, which might tend to make them more positive people as a whole. However, if owls are smarter, with more money and game, it's a toss up to which chronotype I would rather be On top of being potentially smarter and richer which I still need more scientific proof of this but as a morning lark, I digress.
Speaker 1:
There are some cons to being an early bird that catches the worm. As stated in another popular idiom, you can also be someone who, quote, jumps the gun, which means to start something before you should. This saying comes from the early 20th century track and field races. Larks were rarely punished for starting slightly before the gunman off to get an advantage on the competition. It became so prevalent that it was considered a sports trick to quote beat the pistol. After cracking down on the practice, it was made illegal to jump the gun. I talked about this earlier.
Speaker 1:
As a super planner, it always makes me so mad when people who plan at the last minute do things and it just works out fine. I'll plan something and someone who waited will get a better seat or a better deal, and it just makes me so annoyed. Another way to put this is that I find even funnier than jumping the gun, and something I've always had to laugh to myself about when things don't work out for me is the saying the early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese. This clever parody of the original proverb is attributed to Jim Horning. It suggests that in some situations it's better to be first, but in others it's even more powerful to be second. In this case, the first mouse is killed by the trap and the second gets the bait. But such is life. All of this research and I don't know which one is better being a lark or being an owl, being the bird that gets the worm, or the second mouse to the cheese that is an incredible amount of information and things to ponder.
Speaker 1:
I will leave you here with these intellectual snacks to think about, and you can tell me what you think about the podcast by leaving us a comment or sending us an email to my unoriginalthoughtpodcastcom. I want to hear from you. What did you like and what do you want to see in the future? Which idiom do you want us to explore next time? If you have any insight on today's topic something I missed or I just didn't get right, or you want to be featured in a future what the Idiom segment let me know.
Speaker 1:
This is our show and I want to interact with you and, as always, like and subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode. That's a wrap for today. Thank you so much for being with us to learn and laugh our way through another unoriginal thought. I'm your host, afton Jay. I thank you for hanging out with me and, as always, keep being inquisitive. Hey, I just wanted to let you know that if you couldn't get enough of this episode, we will always have bloopers and other interesting conversations included afterwards. If you're interested, just stick around. Bloopers oh yeah, every time it's like okay and go and it's like a laugh. This could be dangerous.
Speaker 2:
Because I'm like that person that you don't look at during serious things, because I'm going to laugh.
Speaker 1:
I know, I know it's hard, it's hard, it's like. You know you're not the origin of the Eibor. I have the absolute Z-R-I clue. Have you had to, like, take a guess even more like region or time period it's from? I don't know. I would think farming, something to do with farming. You are not the only one that thinks it's farming.
Speaker 4:
Really.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah, we've gotten like farming hunters, like all of that kind of answer, and I was like, okay, yeah, farmers wake up early, so that makes sense. But yeah, that's all I know. Yeah, that's a good guess though.
Speaker 5:
The farmers.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah, I know that that's probably a pretty good guess. That's, let's see, it is from a literary term that again comes from the English language. But I mean, you never know, maybe this writer was like sitting on a knoll and he was like look at those farmers, they're up real early and there's birds. And I was like I'm going to put all that together into a book.
Speaker 5:
I don't know. All right, I like to think, girl, you're going to have to, I'm going to have to lick it up myself.
Speaker 3:
I well, it would be great for the podcast to come out. If you want.
Speaker 1:
Okay, ha, gotta love those bloopers. That's a wrap. Yep, we're all done here. Oh wait, were you looking for some more fun facts? Okay, check out the next episode. Press play let's go.