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If you are one of those people who like to stay up late or who struggle to get up in the morning, more commonly-known as night owls, you might be in for some trouble. According to a new study, which the journal Chronobiology International recently published, this might bring with it diabetes, psychological issues and most importantly, an increased risk of early death. The researchers reached this conclusion after tracking about half a million adult people in the United Kingdom over the course of six and a half years.
According to Kirsten Knutson, the leading author of the study, the idea is that these night owls have problems adapting to the external world because their internal clock says otherwise. This is why this issue, paired with an irregular schedule, might in time lead to serious health issues. Some older studies have also shown that people who tend to go late to bed have a lot more problems, including heart disease and diabetes. However, this is the first such study to also look at the risk of mortality among those people.
Being a night owl is unhealthy
About 433,268 people participated in this study and over the course of the six and a half years, 10.000 of them died. After taking into account certain factors like age, sex, smoking status, body mass index, and ethnicity, the researchers found that 10% of the people who identified as “definite evening types” had a higher risk of early death. This was in comparison with the people identifying as “definite morning types”.
There are many other problems that come with being a night owl. Those include neurological, psychological, respiratory, and gastrointestinal issues. Moreover, people who went to sleep late were two times more likely to develop psychological disorders than the other category. This could also be the root for things like anxiety and depression, but the team needs to research more.
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