My family is sleeping, and the streets beyond my well-lit office are dark. Yet I'm already madly planning and working, getting a jump on the day. This is a good thing. A lot of people are hopping out of bed long before dawn these days to work, exercise or just get some peace and quiet. While there aren't any comparable data from the past, John P. Robinson, head of the Americans' Use of Time Project at the University of Maryland, has found that people's bedtimes generally have gotten earlier since 1965.
Societal trends signal a move toward early rising.
Worsening traffic in many cities prompts commuters to try to beat the rush. Technology is a factor, too. The invention of the light bulb, then television, loosened the bond between sleep and nightfall long ago. Now, soaring Internet use is eroding sleep from the morning end. Few sane people over the age of four are up before dawn to watch TV, but lots of adults rise early to do e-mail.