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Who's more productive, people who stay up late or early risers? Answer may be in research on night owls vs. early birds:
While early birds experience a drop in daytime alertness by mid to late afternoon, night owls seem to handle sleep pressure better and can remain productive for a much longer period of time. This information is based on a new study recently published in the journal Science.
However...
"It may represent a problem for evening types obliged to wake up early while having difficulties going to bed in the evening, eventually leading to a sleep debt." In addition, early risers experience a faster dissipation of sleep pressure when they do sleep and they feel restored more quickly than late night people.
So basically, just do it one way or the other and get plenty of sleep? I'd rather be an early riser and just take a cat nap when I'm tired, than be a night owl who can potentially get more done at night and then gets a call/email that he has to wake up early (that is the worst feeling, and we all know it!).
According to a study cited by Richard Restak in his fun book "Think Smart," one characteristic shared by people who accomplish a lot is that they GET MORE SLEEP. I think that the time you start and end sleeping is less important than the duration. I highly recommend Restak's book, by the way. If you don't have a copy you should obtain one and read it. I'll even say it this way: There are two essential books you should obtain at once and read straight through: Richard Restak's "Think Smart" and Mark Hurst's "Bit Literacy."
I'm a night person who wishes I were a morning person. I admire those people who can actually get in a gym workout before work. But nighttime seems to be the only time I can work for long stretches uninterrupted. And in a weird way, sometimes this leads to a whole new level of creativity. 4am is a dangerous hour if you don't know yourself really well: it can be great for writing, but can be very bad for coding.