Should Society Do Some Adjustment for Night People? Argumentative Essay Example

People always want to find a more efficient way to work, and they will make their schedules based on their own preference. Instead of working at daytime like the majority, there is a group of people holding a different idea, who like to do their work at night. This group of people is growing steadily. While the current society is built on the daytime working schedule, there is an inconvenience for night people to fit in the society perfectly. Hence, the question is whether to do some adjustments for night people, so as to make the best use of their talents.

Research shows that night owls and morning people were born that way, and that society ought to accept that (Plaford, 9-11). Science has proven that there are evening and morning people, as well as those in between. These types are called chronotypes. Sometimes those people, who prefer working at night and would like to have a nap between 1 am and 9 am, are faced with the choice of listening to their bodies or forcing the body to match the sleep patterns of most people. Researchers in this field of sleep have been trying to gain more insights into this query. From researchers, it turns out that peoples internal clocks are subjective to the genes and are difficult to reverse. This means that a night person will possibly never be a morning person, not until when aging kicks in. What more is that when people try to live outside the normal clocks, their health is likely to be affected.

To understand why some people are early birds and others night owls, it is important to understand the circadian system. This system controls the sleeping time of people, as well as the hormones, chemicals in the body and the neurotransmitters. The circadian rhythms in adolescents are more evident and this pushes the teens towards late sleep. A study by Minnesota in which the school time for teenagers was adjusted by an hour late, resulted in the teenagers feeling less depressed, had fewer cases of absenteeism, and slept less in class during the day. All these outcomes are what every school tries to achieve. Not only do adolescents have the psychology for being night owls, but the environment provides that opportunity (Plaford, 9-11). The internet and television programs never shut down, and text messaging enables people to connect twenty four hours every day.

There are those that will argue that working during the day is better than at night for various reasons. Some have cited health problems that brought about by lack of enough sleep. In a research conducted by Roeser et al. found out that the night owls had poorer scores on numerous cardiac functioning including heart rate variability, and blood pressure among others (151-157). Consequently, the research found out that the night owls smoked more, had a poor quality of sleep, were physically inactive compared to those that worked during the day. Nevertheless, contrary to the prediction when the night owls and the morning people were subjected to stress levels in the morning and evening, the responses were similar. The results showed that the evening and morning types handled stress better in the morning. Though these were not the expectations of researchers, as the evening people work at night, they subject themselves to additional stress.

However, due to the high level of diversity in our society, people can decide their own lifestyles according to the way feel best suitable, regardless of other peoples judgments (Achari, Atanu and Arti, 235-248). Some people think their daytime is fully occupied by their families, friends and some incidental tasks. Night time for them is more like a free time so that they can do what they truly want to do, and so they will put in more efforts on the tasks they are really interested in. In this way, their efficiency is improved dramatically, as the work is also motivated by their passions. Another reason why some people would like to do their work at night rather than daytime is that it is quieter during the night time. As night most people are sleeping, everything has settled down, and so there is less noise that is made. The nature wind sounds and some occasional car sounds can make people feel calm, and lead people to sink into their own thoughts completely. People can focus on their tasks more easily, and nothing or nobody else can distract them. Therefore, they are able to finish their jobs faster and with higher efficiency.

According to Gallup and Frank, 53% of people under study said they are morning people, while, 43% said they are at their best at night (235-248). This shows that day people occupy most of the portions in society, and working in the daytime can be considered as the main trend. However, as much as most people prefer working during the day, there are some jobs where night shift is unavoidable. For example, some planes fly at night, and hospitals are also run at night. Consequently, the world is moving towards a 24hr society where people are allowed to whichever time they choose. This is the main reason for growing the economy. Persons like the nurses, doctors, and pilots among others have their days planned in such as way that they are able to work all night. Some according to research by Elkins say that they do not mind working at night, as they are already used to working during late hours and their bodies are already accustomed to working at night.

Moreover, a great number of night people such as freelances, independent designers, photographers, painters and writers who prefer to work during the late hours. They do not have a certain time to work, but they will follow their own schedule. After finishing their work, they will sell them to make money. This is inevitable in a world where the cost of living is too high, and people are forced to have more than one job. There are those who have a daytime job, rest for a few hours, and then during the night, they undertake a second job. Also, with the spreading usage of internet, there emerges a brand new way to work, which is telecommuting. According to the statistic by a human capital website called Payscale, the company with the highest proportion of emphasizing the telecommuting at work is Cisco System. "San Jose, California-based tech company Cisco Systems topped the list of the most flexible companies"(Elkins). People can schedule their working time fully on their own with the telecommute technology. Therefore, these night people can invest their efforts in order to finish the tasks given to them.

Night owls are not only a trend of social development but also an indispensable element to maintain our society running healthy. Night time is around one-third of the time in a whole day. That is a notable span of time which can be used to contribute a lot to our society if used wisely. Hence, night people can play their roles at this time to keep the society still running as functional as during the daytime. For example, in order to make the roads functional again, some road cleaning and repairing jobs need to be finished at night. Police and fire departments, manufacturing plants, hospitals and nursing homes, transportation and warehousing companies are some of the places where people toil at night. In fact, because these establishments frequently operate nonstop, people in these jobs might be working at almost any hour "(Torpey). Night people always donate their efforts invisibly to make the community a better place for habitation.

As noted above working at night for most people is unavoidable. It is for these reasons that society should do some adjustment for night people to make the best use of their talents, and because they truly can contribute to our society, by their high efficiency. Some of these adjustments will work better when the government improves of nighttime transportation to make it more convenient for the night owls to travel. Companies can also schedule a flexible working timetable that will accommodate the night owls. Lastly, since security is significant for those working during the night, it should be enhanced so as to keep the people safe.

Works Cited

Achari, K. Venu, Atanu Kumar Pati, and Arti Parganiha. "Comparison of distributions of morningness-eveningness among populations of shift workers on varied work patterns in different organizations." Biological rhythm research 43.3 (2012): 235-248.

Elkins, Kathleen, and Skye Gould. "The most flexible companies to work for in America." Business Insider. N.p., 13 May 2015. Web. 10 Feb. 2017.

Gallup, Alec M., and Frank Newport, eds. The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion 2009. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2005.

Plaford, Gary R. Sleep and learning: The magic that makes us healthy and smart. R&L Education, 2009.

Roeser, Karolin, et al. "Of larks and heartsmorningness/eveningness, heart rate variability and cardiovascular stress response at different times of day." Physiology & behavior 106.2 (2012): 151-157.

Torpey, Elka. "Careers for night owls and early birds." Bureau of Labour Statistics. N.p., Oct. 2015. Web. 15 Feb. 2017.