Are you an early bird or a night owl?
The question may seem trivial, but the time you go to sleep can have a major impact on your well-being, according to US researchers.
Scientists have even established a bedtime that should not be exceeded to help preserve mental health.
Experts and scientists agree: sleep plays a vital role in physical and mental health.
From concentration and mood to energy levels, diabetes and even heart health, getting the right amount and quality of sleep helps maintain good health.
A team of researchers from Stanford University supports this with a study that establishes an association between going to bed late and poor mental health.
Each of us has our own chronotype or biological rhythm.
The question is: should we continue at this pace to stay healthy?
In other words, if you have more energy in the morning, should you go to bed early all the time to wake up early, and vice versa for night owls?
That’s the question researchers set out to answer, analyzing data from 73,888 adults aged 63.5 years, on average, from the UK Biobank research database.
They were asked to provide information about their sleep and, in particular, their tendency to sleep at specific times (i.e., their chronotype).
They were also asked to wear a wearable activity monitor to track their actual sleep for seven days.
The scientists wanted to see how the participants’ chronotypes aligned with their behavior.
The scientists note that more than 19,000 participants declared themselves to be early risers, while more than 6,800 had a late chronotype, with later-rising behavior.
But the vast majority, that is, almost 48,000 participants, were of an “intermediate” chronotype, that is, somewhere in between.
They also note that the sleep data collected was combined with data from medical records relating to the participants’ mental health.
Published in the magazine Research in PsychiatryThe results suggest that going to bed late, regardless of individual preferences, is associated with higher rates of mental and behavioral disorders.
In a press release, the researchers explain that they were surprised to find that “aligning with one’s own chronotype was not the best option for everyone’s mental health.”
In fact, they realized that, at least for night owls, it is better not to follow the pace that they think suits them best.
Scientists even tried to refute this finding, as it seemed so surprising, but to no avail.
“The results were clear: both early risers and evening risers who went to bed late had higher rates of mental health disorders, including depression and anxiety,” they conclude.
Furthermore, their findings indicate a particularly increased risk of mental health disorders among participants who habitually went to bed late and woke up late.
The latter were 20% to 40% more likely to be diagnosed with a mental health disorder than night owls who got up early, or at least not too late.
To verify their findings, the researchers looked at sleep duration or sleep schedule consistency, but these two criteria failed to explain the differences in mental health observed among participants.
While they recognize that it can be difficult to go against your chronotype, researchers recommend going to bed before 1 a.m. to preserve mental health.
While they do not explain the mechanism behind this association, they do suggest that it may be due to the poor decisions we tend to make late at night.
“Many harmful behaviors are more common at night, including suicidal thoughts, violent crime, alcohol and drug use, and overeating,” the study’s news release said.
“One theory, known as the ‘mind after midnight’ hypothesis, suggests that neurological and physiological changes late at night may foster impulsivity, negative mood, impaired judgment and increased risk-taking.” – AFP Relaxnews
