A year ago, when my wife started working late at night to contribute more towards our elder daughter's forth-coming Xth Board examination, i tried my to best to convince her for getting  rid of this unhealthy habit - as claimed by many - but failed.

Few months later, with recession looming large in the horizon and business shrinking gradually, i had every reason to give her company but without really contributing to her cause.

Then from out-of-the-blue; crystallized, the idea of launching the Blog,and i started taking a genuine interest to establish it, as soon as possible.

Availability of plenty of time - courtesy, recession - was one of the advantage, and the operations to make it visible continued with best possible inputs.

Fewdays of trial and error to find out a good time for creative work,surprisingly, pointed towards late night executions, and with great amusement i realized that my out-put during night hours is much more than day time - in terms of content quality.

Mywife was very happy to notice this observation, in consonance with her's, and it's over-all impact on our married life; more than nullified the evils of melt-down..

But the question remains; is creativity at it's best during late night hours, if so, has it been proved scientifically ?

Let's look at the suggestions, made by researchers on this issue:

1.Professor Marina Giampietro, lead author of a study published in the February 2007 issue of the journal Personality and Individual Differences said  "Being in a situation which diverges from conventional habit, nocturnal types often experience this situation, may encourage the development ofa non-conventional spirit and of the ability to find alternative and original solutions." (i)

2.Inanother study; researchers Christina Schmidt and Philippe Peigneux,both at the University of Liège in Belgium, and their colleagues suggested that Early birds may tire out more quickly than night owlsdo.(ii) 

These are encouraging developments as far as creativity is concerned, but in the health front, the findings are equally discouraging.

Let's see, what experts are saying:

1.Researchers Daniel J. Gottlieb; Naresh M. Punjabi; Ann B. Newman;Helaine E. Resnick; Susan Redline; Carol M. Baldwin; F. Javier Nieto,while experimenting with sleep hours and sleeping late  in the night - the findings of which was published in Archives of Internal Medicine - suggested that; sleeping late or less, could lead to someserious health recursions, particularly diabetes.(iii)(iv)

Healthconscious people may not take this risk - of working late night - for accelerating creativity, but in general, most of the authors prefer a peaceful environment - during night hours - while exploring the depthof mind and soul - to the best of my knowledge.

If you are a scared Night-Owl by now and willing to switch over to Morning-Birds category, there is a good news:

1.Researchassociate Gauri Nanda at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT) invented a clever device, which would defy even the most determinedalarm clock "snoozers." This two-wheeled "Clocky" automatically rolls off the bedside table when the alarm goes off and the snooze button is pressed.

It travels around the room and its carpet-covered surface bumps into objects that come into its path, until it finds a resting place."Minuteslater, when the alarm sounds again, the sleeper must get up out of bed and search for Clocky," says the 25-year-old scientist."This ensures that the person is fully awake before turning it off.(v)

So, you belong to which category - Night Owl or Morning  Bird ?

If you are a Morning-Bird; the safest, otherwise, my suggestion would be: you should identify the right combination of "Creative Output" and"Extent of Late-Night-Working," strictly on the basis of your healthconditions. 

Livingoutside the norm - in any sphere of life - is, easier said than done,and requires extra-ordinary courage and fighting-spirit. 

However, the "Power of Mind" is beyond any plausible explanation, and you should always remember : "There is nothing that cannot be achieved by firm imagination." -Japanese Proverb 



Warm regards

Abhijit Kar

Visit my Blog  at  'Leadership And Networking'  for similar articles


References:
(i)(News in Science)
(ii)(Scientific American)
(iii)(Archives of Internal Medicines)
(iv)(Bio Medicine)
(v)CNN.Com