Early Birds Are Healthier and Live Longer, Study Says

Society has long valued those who rise early to meet the day and now research suggests that there are health benefits to those who are early birds.

Maybe you have heard of the dichotomy believed to exist in people where some are more alert and productive in the morning and others in the evening. This tendency is often presented as a personality characteristic, genetic or physiological predisposition or differences in circadian rhythms. It has also been assumed it is just a preference or style and has no effect on our health or well-being.

A study published late last year in the journal The Lancet Neurology, suggests our tendency of being more active in the morning or evening may actually be tied to a number of physical and psychological factors. The study followed half a million adults for six and a half years and found that people who stated they were “definitely evening types” had a greater risk of experiencing an number of physical and psychological disorders which could increase their chance of dying early. After controlling for such factors as age, sex, smoking habits, and others, those night owls, were found to have a 10 percent greater risk of dying from any cause compared to morning types.

This sobering finding is in part, due to the diseases that the night owl in more likely to develop. In particular, those who identified as “evening types” had a 23 percent higher risk of respiratory disease and 25 percent greater risk of having a neurological disorder than early birds. Night owls were 22 percent more likely to have a gastrointestinal disease and 30 percent more likely to have diabetes compared to early birds. Evening types were also more than twice as likely to suffer from a psychological disorder.

It is also important to note that night owls were not just displaying a preference for staying up late. Their body clocks and circadian rhythms were actually set to later times.

Once explanation for these findings is that our world is generally designed for early morning starts and this is potentially throwing off the circadian rhythms night owls forced to operate on a schedule that is counter to their internal clock. The results of this study fit with other findings that have demonstrated that people who routinely stay up late are at increased risk of developing diabetes, high blood pressure and certain types of cancer.

The researchers have determined that the problem is not related to a lack of sleep, however. Both groups got similar amounts of sleep. Instead, head researcher Knutson said,

“I think the problem arises because a night owl is trying to live in a morning lark world. If the body is expecting you to do something at a certain time like sleep or eat and you’re doing it at the quote ‘wrong’ time, then your body’s physiology may not be working as well.”

Researchers know the body clock is important. For example, forcing the body to change time suddenly can be detrimental. Studies have shown, for example, that switches to and from daylight savings time can increase the risk of death over the next several days. Other studies show that shift workers forced to routinely take drastically different shifts have multiple increased health risks.

The World Health Organization has stated that shift work likely contributes to the development of cancer, linking it to breast cancer and other types of cancers. Shift work has also been associated with diabetes and severe sleep disorders. Forcing people to work shifts that are opposite to their natural circadian rhythm has also been associated with depression and anxiety as well as social isolation and loss of pleasure in normally enjoyable activities.

How Night Owls Can Change to An Earlier Schedule

Some strategies proven to help people who want to switch to an earlier schedule include gradually advancing your bedtime a few minutes each night and avoiding the use of technology for at least an hour before bed. General sleep hygiene strategies are also helpful.

While you can’t completely change your chronotype to become a morning person if you are really an evening person, you can shift it by altering your light exposure. Daylight naturally helps us feel alert, while darkness triggers the body to produce hormones that make us feel tired.

To start waking up earlier, you can expose yourself to bright light as soon as you get up for at least a half an hour. Maximizing the amount of natural light you get during the rest of the day and avoiding light at night will also help the brain and body adjust to a new schedule. Try setting your lights on dimmers so that they gradually grow less bright as it gets later. If you can’t use dimmers then just turn off some lights or switch to a lower watt bulb at night. While this may seem like a lot of trouble, it can improve your sleep and make it easier to get up earlier in the morning.

Take Away

The researchers of this study were careful to emphasize that it isn’t just circadian rhythm tendencies that put someone at risk. It is a mismatch between your internal clock and societies expectations that’s the problem. Finding creative ways to take care of your needs and participate in the world around you, while being consistent with your internal clock is not always easy but it can be done.

If you know that you are definitely more active and alert at morning or evening, choose jobs and activities that are consistent with your bodies preference. It is clear that working against your body’s natural inclination can be harmful to both your physical and mental health.

References

Abbott, S. M., Knutson, K. L., & Zee, P. C. (2018). Health implications of sleep and circadian rhythm research in 2017. The Lancet Neurology, 17(1), 17–18.

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