The duality of man is one of the most fascinating aspects of being human. 

Man looks at life and attempts to either live it to the fullest or just get by. 

Man either drives excessively over the speed limit or frustratingly below it. 

Man is either selfless or selfish. 

Man either folds laundry right away or grabs clothes from a full hamper until there are no more clean clothes left.

Man either walks directly over the seal or avoids it at every cost.

Man either takes the elevator up to the second floor or walks up the stairs.

Most importantly, man either takes morning showers or night showers.

Morning showers and night showers each have their own merits to being the preferable shower. The divide between these two is incredible, however. I religiously used to take morning showers, and among all my friends, I was ridiculed for my hygiene habits. How could I possibly sleep in my own bed, dirty from all the day’s activities? Surely, waking up in a concoction of my dirt and uncleanliness is less hygienic than starting the day with the remnants of a nighttime shower. And to the people who wonder the same things, I tell them: Put aside your ego for a hot minute and listen up, because you might learn something in the next few paragraphs you wouldn’t otherwise.

Granted, night showers have some advantages. For example, I get to sleep in later if I take a night shower, since I don’t have to wake up earlier to take a whole shower. It also makes my bed feel cleaner than usual, although this benefit is not as major since I regularly clean my bedsheets anyway. Besides these advantages, however, I have nothing worthwhile about night showers. Even these advantages eventually get overdone, and pretty soon, night showers will probably seem to have no hefty advantage over morning showers.

Morning showers are one of, if not the best, way to start a day. What could possibly be more refreshing than waking up with a shower to brighten your day? The water cleaning your body as it flows down, the floral scent of the shampoo and body wash, the softness of skin immediately afterward. All of that is the secret ingredient in the recipe to having a fantastic day. There is nothing a nice shower cannot make better, from a bad midterm to a fight with your significant other. 

Morning showers are also infinitely more pragmatic than night showers. First of all, night showers require that you wake up in the morning and wash up anyways, so to everyone who takes night showers, I would love it if y’all could explain to me your moral justification for wasting water, when you could’ve just taken a morning shower. There is also scientific backing that morning showers are better for waking up and being alert. Once again, what would the point be of being awake and alert right before trying to sleep? That is the showering equivalent of watching Game of Thrones during (what’s left of) dead week: self-sabotage at its finest. And we’re all UC Berkeley students here. We’re smarter than that. So let’s make the right decision and put some respect on morning showers.