Bad Study

I don’t understand how this crap gets published.

Experts say a spectrum of natural sleeping and waking rhythms exists, ranging from extreme morning people to extreme “night owls.”

A new study examines how morning people compare with night owls on a strength test and looks at what other physiological processes may contribute to their performance.

Researchers tested participants’ leg muscle strength at various points in the day. They looked at nine “early birds” and nine “night owls,” who were classified as such based on a questionnaire.

Surprisingly, morning people’s strength tends to remain constant throughout the day, but night owls have peak performance in the evening, said researchers from the University of Alberta in Canada.

“We thought that morning people would be better at this in the morning, but they never changed,” said study co-author Olle Lagerquist, a Ph.D. candidate in neurophysiology at the University of Alberta.

n=18?? Self classified??  Please.  Absolutely meaningless, other than perhaps pointing out that this might be something that should be studied using a meaningful study.  This one, though, should have been completely ignored by the press.  One more lesson, I guess, that science you see in the mainstream press should be examined with a critical eye (global warming, HFCS, etc)

By the way, I went from being a night owl to morning person.  It wasn’t that hard, and made a pretty big difference in my productivity.  While I tend to lose steam in the afternoon (which is when I usually train, so I’m a big fan of Monster), I often perk up late at night and can be pretty creative. 

One other thing:  don’t let this kind of article keep you from finding what’s optimal for you.

Via Lifehacker