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Prejudice abounds too: the productive, hard-working lark – the slow, lazy owl. What do you think? I mean, owls have their advantages too, don’t they?
Absolutely! After all, someone has to function in the evening and at night, be efficient, creative and emotionally balanced. At a time when many are already enjoying their evening off. However, I don’t think we should qualify the two chronotypes this way. One type isn’t more successful than the other. On the contrary, our clocks just run differently. And anyway, dare I say it: Let us owls let the larks have their worms!

You told me at the start of the conversation that you’re an owl. How do you deal with this in your own day-to-day life? Sleeping in probably isn’t an option with work, family and everyday life, is it?
I myself trick my internal clock with the help of light.

I’m sorry, what?
I try to influence my circadian rhythm using daylight lamps; I use these to coincide with the routine I need to adapt to. In other words, without a daylight lamp, I’d probably wake up between 8 and 9 o’clock in the morning. The lamps help me to get up at half past seven.

Amazing! How exactly does that work?
It’s simple. I regularly get up at anti-social hours, use the daylight lamps in the bathroom, with my first morning coffee, but also at work and at home. This means that I use daylight from the moment I get up until late afternoon. From the late afternoon until I get up in the morning, I stick to yellowish, warm light and activate the blue filter on electronic displays. That’s it.

This means that you can definitely adjust your internal clock.
But it requires discipline. Think of it this way: the “outer day” counts exactly 24 hours, but the “inner day” counts approximately 24 hours. In fact, the owl’s internal clock goes on for an average of about 12 minutes longer than the outer clock. If, for example, the owl, who spends the majority of the day indoors, does not consciously set their internal clock every day, their inner time can shift away from outer time. Blind people who do not sense light or those completely isolated from the outside world have their own rhythm take over. For example, after five days, they might be an hour later, and after 120 days, a whole day is missing. People in isolation experiments do not miss this day. Conversely, this means that with the help of the light trick, this natural delay can be stopped or even brought forward. But as I said, it requires discipline.

I talk to Stefan Telser for an hour, and while philosophising with him, I realise that sleep is about much more than that: «You shut your eyes, you open them, and something happens in between.» He continues: «If you start talking about it and go into depth, a whole cosmos of connections with our everyday life opens up.» Sleeping is a basic need. Just like eating, drinking, digesting, excreting. If we are denied these vegetative functions, we cannot function. We get into trouble. Sleep is fascinating. And precisely because sleep is so fundamental, so complex and fascinating, it should be given the attention it deserves. But you can’t sleep everywhere and all the time, says Telser. «Let’s imagine we had laid down to sleep under a tree 30,000 years ago. The chance of a wild animal eating us would have been huge. This means that our sleep-wake habits have always been subject to a certain amount of control. But as long as we can adapt, everything will be fine.»

For me, this connection to nature, going back to our origins, is a good motto for planning my next visit. I am drawn to the Birds of Prey Park in Buchs, where you can marvel at a unique population of around 70 species of birds of prey and owls across an area of around 10,000 square metres, which corresponds to about 190 animals. I meet owner Lucien Nigg on a cold and wet Friday afternoon for a chat to learn more about owls and larks and to understand the connections. We sit down at a table in the Falkenstübli. Even as a young boy, Lucien Nigg was fascinated by birds of prey. In 2001, he turned his dream of running his own bird park into reality.

THE KNOWING SMILE OF AN EXPERT IS WRITTEN ALL OVER HIS FACE.

Lucien, what can you tell me about the sleeping habits of owls?
Lucien Nigg: A nocturnal owl spends around 80 to 95 per cent of its day resting. This means that it looks for a protected branch within its nest – which has a radius of about 100 metres. Once there, it settles down and dozes for up to 20 hours a day. Yes, dozing. Because even when its eyes are supposedly closed, it has extremely good hearing. When dusk sets in and it hears a sound, a kind of thermal imaging camera kicks in. It uses this to sense the body heat of its prey, even in the dark. Thanks to its silent flight, it can then catch these in a very targeted manner and with little effort. The owl is an extremely skilled short-range hunter.

What about the character traits of owls and larks?
The owl thinks before acting. And when it acts, it acts very efficiently. It’s a loner and doesn’t accept any other owls in its territory – except when it has found a mate. Owls are considered a symbol of wisdom and intelligence. The diurnal lark, on the other hand, likes to be in company. It lives in a swarm. It sings as soon as the sun comes up and rests at night. Symbolically, it stands for freedom and independence.

Do you see any parallels between animal and human owls and larks?
Larks need each other – if only for protection. The owls protect themselves by their camouflage colours and by behaving calmly. They regard their nest field as their territory, just as we humans regard our homes or even our hotel rooms as our «nest». We all have times where need our peace and to feel safe.

So one thing they have in common is this basic need for protection.
Absolutely. We know this from ourselves, too. In our home or a hotel room we are looking for peace, security and protection. Because only when we feel safe do we allow ourselves to shut down our system. You have to be able to let go in order to recover. To do this, you need peace and security – whether human or animal.

Interesting, I think as I leave the bird of prey park, after I have made it into my car just in time for a violent thunderstorm wave to hit, summarising what I have learned during my research: As different as owls and larks are, their unique characteristics and behaviours are just as important. Our society needs both. The prospect of us starting to acknowledge this fact in a non-judgemental manner is exciting. And as decision-makers, we also have to address the fact that we humans are different and operate to our own internal clocks. I ask myself: What would it do to us and our society if we could all work, live, sleep – be – at our own pace?

One thing is certain: enabling ourselves to sleep deeply is a great freedom. And what could be more valuable than that?

We all love and need sleep and want nothing more than a safe, quiet place with an optimum climate, a high-quality bed and the finest bedding, preferably with the scent of a forest and meadow. (Or freshly cut grass and grapefruit. Lavender and bergamot. Or rose petals. Mmmh!) Sleeping is existential. Sleeping is healing. Sleeping is nice! For the larks who can’t wait to finally crawl into bed at night, and the owls who love to snuggle up in fine bed linen in the early morning hours. On that note: Goodnight and good morning! Whenever, wherever: sleep well!