NX-Files

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If asked, odds are most of you already identify as either a morning person or night owl. A new study says these classifications can be used to help determine optimal times when each group should perform their day-to-day activities.

Researchers from the University of Alberta took 18 participants (admittedly, a very small sample) and concluded that a morning person's strengths generally remain constant throughout the day, but the same doesn't hold true for night owls, who tend to do their best work exclusively in the evenings. According to the article:

That may be because evening people show increased motor cortex and spinal cord excitability in the evening, about 9 p.m., meaning they had maximal central nervous system drive at that time...Morning people, on the other hand, never achieve this level of central nervous system drive because the excitability of the motor cortex does not coincide with the excitability of the spinal cord. In other words, these two measures never peak at the same time...

Based on these findings, the researchers concluded that early birds are most excitable at 9 a.m, and that night owls probably couldn't become morning people, even if they forcibly tried to change their habits, say by sitting in front of a very bright light early in the morning and taking melatonin to sleep earlier.

What do you make of the findings? Do you consider yourself a morning or night person, and how—if at all—do you feel it affects your performance? Whatever your classification, you can help yourself get the best sleep possible by improving your sleep posture.

 

The staffer who maintains the Prime Minister’s Facebook page may find him/herself in hot water after expressing a personal opinion in a caption for a picture in John Key’s Pacific tour album.

 

jk1

The comment reads “what the hell is that useless prick doing there? other than the free fights ;)”.

The comment appears over Peter Sharples. 

The staffer is free is express his/her own opinion, but not on the Prime Minister’s Facebook page which the person has been entrusted to update.

Given that JK is maxed out at 5,000 friends and the popularity of Facebook, there is no chance the caption could’ve gone unnoticed.

The caption is also unfortunate because it undermines the great job the Prime Minister did representing New Zealand on this first Pacific Island tour.