Only 10% Of People Have This Sleep Pattern — What It Means If You're One Of Them

When it comes to getting quality sleep and having more energy, there isn't one approach that will work for everyone.

Instead, there are four sleep chronotypes—bears, lions, wolves, and dolphins—that can give us a better sense of our unique sleep needs and what time we should be waking up, going to bed, etc. (You can find out your type with a quick quiz!)

Board-certified sleep specialist Michael J. Breus, Ph.D., specializes in these chronotypes, and his new book, Energize!, co-authored by Stacey Griffith, dives into how each animal can feel their best on a daily basis.

The rarest sleep chronotype is the dolphin, thought to make up roughly 10% of the population. (Bears are the most common, at around 50%, followed by Lions and Wolves, at around 20%.)

As Breus previously explained to mbg, not only are dolphins the rarest chronotype, but these are the folks who tend to struggle with sleep the most.

The dolphin type is characterized by difficulty falling asleep at night and waking up in the morning, which can make it difficult for them to stick to a consistent sleep schedule.

According to Breus, dolphins do have an optimal bedtime based on how long they typically sleep and when they typically wake up.

These folks usually sleep for four full (90-minute) sleep cycles, can take up to 40 minutes to fall asleep, and have an optimal wake-up time of 6:30 a.m.

Because dolphin types can struggle to fall asleep, they may do well to try out a sleep supplement, such as mbg's sleep support+.*

Nothing can keep you up at night quite like incessant thoughts and worries.

If that sounds familiar, Breus says dolphins can keep a "worry journal" by their bedside so they can get everything out of their head and onto paper.

Each chronotype has windows during the day when they're the most productive, and in the case of Dolphins, Breus says 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. is prime time.

And last but not least, because dolphins can struggle with their sleep in general, this can mean lulls of energy throughout the day.