Night owl (person)

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For other uses of the term, see Night Owl.

Night owl is a term used to describe a person who tends to stay up until late at night. The term is derived from the primarily nocturnal habits of the owl. 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.