Original version

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

CrowdScience

Documentaries

Factual: Science & Nature

Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

Answering your questions about life, Earth and the universe

We take your questions about life, Earth and the universe to researchers hunting for answers at the frontiers of knowledge.

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

CrowdScience: Why are There Morning People and Night People?

Discussion & Talk

Why Are There Morning People and Night People?

17/11/2017 GMT

Why are There Morning People and Night People?

BBC World Service - CrowdScience, Why are There Morning People and Night People?

What makes some of us early birds and others night owls?

What makes some of us early birds and others night owls? Is it down to our genes, or more to do with habits and surroundings?

Some of us want to be up with the larks, while others are more like night owls. But is our preference down to our genes, or more to do with habits and surroundings? We set out to find the answers, inspired by a question from Kira, a night owl CrowdScience listener in Philadelphia, USA.

Our daily, or circadian, body clocks are a hot topic of discussion at the moment - this year’s Nobel Prize for Medicine went to three scientists who discovered the gene that makes these clocks tick. To answer our listener’s question, we need to know why different clocks tick at different rates, so we visit a specialist sleep centre to see how having a slow-ticking clock makes it hard for you to leap out of bed in the morning.

And the morning sun helps all of us regulate our daily rhythm, so what happens when it doesn’t rise at all? We travel to Tromsø, in the far north of Norway, to see how morning and evening types fare during the long polar nights - and meet the reindeer who seem to be able to switch off their daily clocks altogether. Meanwhile down near the equator, we hear about the hunter-gatherer community in Tanzania where there’s nearly always someone awake.

Sami song, the joik of Ráikku-Ánte, is performed by Ken Even Berg

Do you have a question we can turn into a programme? Email us at crowdscience@bbc.co.uk

Presenter: Anand Jagatia
Producer: Cathy Edwards

(Image: L - Women smiling on a run R - Women DJ. Credit: Getty Images)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

CrowdScience

Why are There Morning People and Night People?

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

About BBC World Service