Night owls may have shorter lives
Bad news, night owls. Evening types have a 10 percent higher risk of dying than those up and at ’em in the morning, according to a new study from Northwestern Medicine and the United Kingdom’s University of Surrey.
“This is the first study, to our knowledge, that was able to look at mortality risk,” said Kristen Knutson, an associate professor of neurology and sleep researcher at Northwestern.
Night owls have a harder time switching to daylight saving time, and are more likely to suffer from diabetes and psychological and neurological disorders, she said.
Researchers surveyed 433,268 participants, ages 38 to 73, in the U.K., asking whether they considered themselves a “definite morning type,” “moderate morning type,” “moderate evening type” or “definite evening type.” Then, researchers tracked deaths within the sample.
The study, published April 12 in the Chronobiology International journal, found that the 50,000 people who identified as definite night owls were more likely to die in the 6½ years researchers followed them.
“It’s really important to get the message out to the night owls that … they should make an effort to be vigilant,” Knutson said.
But she said the problem isn’t necessarily what the study calls “increased eveningness,” but living in a society with schedules that don’t welcome this.