What are chronotype shifts?

A chronotype shift is when your body’s favorite time to be active or sleepy changes, like a clock inside you moves its hands.

Imagine you're a robot with a built-in timer that tells you when to wake up and when to go to sleep. Most kids have their timer set for morning: they wake up easily, are full of energy, and get sleepy around bedtime. But some kids (and grown-ups too!) have their timer shifted, it likes to be active in the evening instead of the morning.

If your chronotype is shifted, you might feel like a night owl: you're tired during the day and wide awake at night. It's like having a favorite toy that only works when it's dark outside, you want to play with it then!

Sometimes, this happens because of changes in your life, like going to school, getting more sleep, or even just growing up.

Think of your body as a train: sometimes the conductor (your brain) decides to change the schedule so the train runs later, and that’s when you feel like a night owl!