People who stay up late are more likely to be creative, are less groggy at night

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One of the many things you settle into in your 30s is firmly knowing which camp you belong to, early bird or night owl. I identify as the latter. And let’s be real, there’s a lot more positivity ascribed to the early birds. They tend to get in more physical activity, they have a reduced risk of depression, and of course, they get the worm. Us night owls, by contrast, tend to be viewed as lazy. Yahoo! Life just ran an article asking if the unequal reputations between early birds and night owls are valid. While they didn’t flat out say one is better than the other, the studies cited sure seemed to benefit early birds:

Early birds get about an hour more activity each day: One 2020 cohort study of more than 5,000 people published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports had people who were early birds and night owls wear activity trackers on their wrists for two weeks. The researchers found that early birds had up to 60 to 90 minutes more activity during the day than their night owl counterparts.

Early birds have a decreased risk of major depression: A study published in JAMA Psychiatry in 2021 linked early birds with a lowered risk of developing depression. For the study, researchers analyzed two genetic databases of more than 800,000 adults, along with data on major depression diagnoses and when people typically went to sleep and woke up. The researchers found that people who were early birds had a 23% lower risk of developing major depression for every hour earlier they reached their midpoint of sleep (that is, the middle of their sleep cycle).

Night owls have an increased risk of type 2 diabetes: Another study, this one published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in September, linked being a night owl to having a greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The study analyzed data from 63,676 nurses from the ages of 45 to 62 and found that those who preferred to stay up late were 54% more likely to have unhealthy lifestyle habits, such as smoking, not sleeping enough, not exercising and a poor diet. The researchers also discovered the night owls were 19% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes.

Night owls have a 9% greater risk of early death: Being an early bird is even linked to having a longer life. A Chronobiology International study published earlier this year followed nearly 24,000 twins from 1981 to 2018 and asked them about their sleep habits. The researchers also looked at death records and, after adjusting for factors like alcohol use, smoking, body mass and sleep duration, found that night people had a 9% greater risk of early death than their morning counterparts.

Night owls are more creative and alert: Older research has found that people who stay up late are more likely to be creative than those who have earlier bedtimes. Night owls are also more likely to be mentally alert and have faster response times before bed than early birds, according to another study.

Doctors weigh in on sleep schedules: The sleep schedule you prefer can be caused by a mix of factors, Dr. Beth Malow, director of the Sleep Disorders Division at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, tells Yahoo Life. “It’s definitely biological but can also be related to habits, such as when a spouse prefers to go to bed,” she says. Dr. W. Christopher Winter, a neurologist and sleep medicine physician with Charlottesville Neurology and Sleep Medicine and host of the Sleep Unplugged podcast, tells Yahoo Life, “Jobs and family life also tend to influence bedtimes.”

The number of hours you sleep is more important than when you sleep: Despite all the research to support early birds, doctors say what’s more important is to ensure you get the recommended seven or more hours of sleep a night. “If your schedule allows it, it’s often easier to just stick with what you are comfortable with than to try to change it,” Malow says. Winter agrees. “If you’re killing yourself trying to wake up at 7 a.m. and you have the capacity to get up at 9 a.m. instead, there’s no problem with that as long as you’re exercising and eating well,” he says. “Just stay consistent, and you’ll be fine.”

[From Yahoo! Life]

So as a night owl, I have a greater chance of being depressed, developing type 2 diabetes, and dying younger… but at least I’m more creative! I guess I’ll take it, but that’s just a testament to how much I hate it when the alarm goes off in the morning. It always feels like a violent crash back into reality, even with setting my iPhone alarm to the dulcet tones of Cat Stevens singing “Morning Has Broken.” Also, why didn’t they cite the “older research” for the creativity results? Who were the test subjects, anyway, Broadway stage actors at 11:30pm curtain calls?! Cause it kinda felt like they were just trying to throw us a bone there. Well, the data isn’t pointing to anything quantifiably superior, so let’s tell them they’re more creative! I’ll listen to the doctors quoted at the end and focus on getting a consistent number of hours a night, more than when they happen. Now if I could just get my day job on board with slightly later hours…