QUICK VERSION
A new study suggests night owls may place themselves at risk for deadly diseases
NOT SO QUICK VERSION
Are you a night person? Do you stay up until the wee hours of the morning and then go to sleep? When you wake up, are you downing coffee with the goal of charging up?
If the answer is yes, you wouldn’t be alone. A lot of folks identify as night owls. While we can’t be sure, many believe some people are wired that way.
More: Why men get morning wood
But what if being a night person carried certain health risks?
Well, according to a huge study carried out in the UK involving 433, 268 adults, that may very well be the case.
Researchers asked British participants aged 38-73 to put themselves into one of four categories: “definitely a morning person,” “more a morning person than evening person,” “more an evening than a morning person” or “definitely an evening person.”
Investigators took some samples and followed up again an average of 6.5 years later.
The results for the night owls weren’t so great. Scientists found that “definite evening types” were around 10% more likely to die during the study period than “definite morning types.”
Moreover, evening people were at a higher risk for conditions like diabetes, psychological and neurological disorders – plus certain types of respiratory and gastrointestinal/abdominal issues.
One of the study's authors, Kristen Knutson, believes the reason for the results might be that night owls are trying to live in an early bird's world.
“What we think might be happening is, there’s a problem for the night owl who’s trying to live in the morning lark world,” Knutson said in a press release. “This mismatch between their internal clock and their external world could lead to problems for their health over the long run, especially if their schedule is irregular.”
Knutson suggests that night owls aren’t doomed. She says by making certain lifestyle changes, risks can be mitigated. She also believes that if night people try to adopt regular (earlier) bedtimes and become regimented about adopting healthy lifestyle behaviors, health benefits can be realized.
Finally, she suggests quality of sleep also has a significant impact on health – which makes a lot of sense.
