If you’re the type that likes to stay up late and have trouble dragging yourself out of bed in the morning, your late old age-prospects could get a bit blurry; on the other hand, if you’re a lark, meaning you go to bed early and rise early, make plans of how you would like to enjoy your long retirement!
Says a new study from Northwestern Medicine and the University of Surrey in the UK, night owls trying to live in a morning lark world may have health consequences for their bodies. They would have higher rates of diabetes, and psychological as well as neurological disorders.
The study, published in the journal ‘Chronobiology International’, involved nearly half a million participants and has found that owls have a 10% higher risk of dying than larks. Previous studies in this field have focused on the higher rates of metabolic dysfunction and cardiovascular disease, but this study is the first to look at mortality risk.
“This is a public health issue that can no longer be ignored,” said Malcolm von Schantz, a professor of chronobiology at the University of Surrey. “We should discuss allowing evening types to start and finish work later, where practical. And we need more research about how we can help evening types cope with the higher effort of keeping their body clock in synchrony with sun time.”
“It could be that people who are up late have an internal biological clock that doesn’t match their external environment,” adds coauthor Kristen Knutson, associate professor of neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “It could be psychological stress, eating at the wrong time for their body, not exercising enough, not sleeping enough, being awake at night by yourself, maybe alcohol use. There are a whole variety of unhealthy behaviours related to being up late in the dark by yourself.”
Can owls become larks?
Genetics and environment play approximately equal roles in whether we are a morning or a night type, or somewhere in between. But the scientists don’t think that you’re doomed if you are an owl. One way to shift your behaviour is to make sure you are exposed to light early in the morning but not at night. Try to keep a regular bedtime and not let yourself drift to later bedtimes. Be regimented about adopting healthy lifestyle behaviours and recognise the timing of when you sleep matters.
What others can do
The researchers also urge that society understand these patters of sleep-wake behaviours, make work shifts match peoples’ chronotypes, and not expect the same work timings from everyone. Perhaps the owls are better suited for night shifts and would do far better than those who aren’t night persons.
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