Night owls at more risk of early death

NOCTURNAL “NIGHT owls” are more at risk of dying than “larks” who turn in early and leap out of bed when the sun rises, new research has shown.

Night owls stay up late but struggle to drag themselves out of bed in the morning.

Scientists who studied a population of nearly half a million Britons found that over a six-year period, owls had a 10 per cent greater risk of death than larks.

The difference held true even after adjusting for expected health problems in owls, such as metabolic dysfunction and heart disease.

Society should wake up to the difficulties faced by night owls, said the researchers.

They called on employers to be more flexible towards staff who suffer when forced to clock in early. Dr Kristen Knutson, inset, a member of the team from Northwestern University in Chicago, US, said: “Night owls trying to live in a morning lark world may have health consequences for their bodies.

“They shouldn’t be forced to get up for an 8am shift. Make work shifts match people’s chronotypes. Some people may be better suited to night shifts.” The study, published in the journal Chronobiology International, found higher rates of diabetes, mental disorders and neurological conditions among night owls. The researchers drew on data from the UK Biobank, medical and genetic information provided by 500,000 people aged 40 to 69 from across the UK. British co-author Professor Malcolm von Schantz, from the University of Surrey, said: “This is a public health issue that can no longer be ignored.” Larks are better able to adjust body clocks to the light and dark rhythms of the rising and setting sun, said the researchers. Owls may have a body clock that fails to match their external environment, said Dr Knutson.