Health Dictionary
Reliable, easy-to-read patient information on common medical conditions — written in plain language, free of jargon, and grounded in current evidence. Browse the most frequent diagnoses, understand what they mean for everyday life, and learn which steps and questions help you have a focused conversation with your doctor.
Night owl (person)
Introduction
- For other uses of the term, see Night Owl.
Night owl is a term for a person who tends to stay up until late at night. Usually, night owls keep awake past midnight, with extreme night owls staying awake until 5:00 or 6:00 AM.
Some night owls have a preference or habit for staying up late, or stay up to work the night shift. Night owls who have great difficulty adopting normal sleeping and waking times may have delayed sleep phase syndrome.
Preference for a darker, night time world is called nyctophilia or scotophilia.
The opposite of a night owl is an early bird, lark as opposed to owl, someone who tends to begin sleeping at a time that is considered ‘early’, thus giving them the opportunity to wake early. In several countries, early birds are called “A-people” and night owls are called “B-people”. Researchers use the terms morningness/eveningness.
Famous night owls
Famous night owls
The following people have been described as night owls: