Are you a morning person or a night owl?

I’m a morning person. Every day at 7 a.m. my eyelids fly open, my toes start dancing and my mind runs through all of the amazing possibilities that the day presents. I have an insuppressible need for sunshine and breakfast ASAP. (Basically, I’m a Disney cartoon.)

Unfortunately, my husband is the opposite: A night owl. He’s groggy and grumpy in the morning. He hits the snooze button three times and doesn’t want to eat until noon.

The only thing I’ve found that helps our morning personalities co-exist are pancakes. And after much investigation, I present to you the hands-down Best Pancake Recipe EVER.

It took me a while to realize that I would never convert my husband to a morning person and that he would never bring me over to the dark side. It’s how we’re wired. I’ve actually written articles about this phenomenon in years past–parts of which I’ve included below:

A new study suggests there are four types of sleepers in the world.

Researchers observed 130 people in a lab, depriving them of sleep for 24 hours and surveying them about their sleep patterns. They found that people fell into four groups:

• 29 “Morning larks”: People who are more energetic at 9 a.m. than at 9 p.m.;
• 44 “Night owls”: People who are more energetic at 9 p.m. than at 9 a.m.;
• 32 “Lethargics”: People who are sleepy in both the morning and evening; and
• 25 “High Energetics”: People who are alert from the early morning to late at night (and sleep, on average, 30 minutes less than the other groups).

According to another study I reviewed, these sleep proclivities are determined by a “master clock” in the brain that is connected to every cell in the body: The tiny suprachiasmatic nucleus. It’s not a preference, it’s biological. Moreover, researchers believe that the body’s “master clock” is set before we were born.

At any rate, I hope you are getting plenty of sleep. Meanwhile, a few links for the weekend:

• The bed linens I’d love to order
• Why we don’t sleep as well when we travel
• But maybe we would at one of these hotels…
• The sleep meditation I’m trying this weekend
• And my dream vacation