United States: Researchers from Stanford University reveal that going to bed late, regardless of whether an individual is a night owl or an early bird, is associated with deteriorating mental health, leading to higher instances of depression and anxiety.
More about the study
Previous evidences suggested that aligning with one’s sleep-wake preference, or chronotype, was beneficial for mental health. This alignment involved ‘evening chronotypes’ staying up late and ‘morning chronotypes’ going to bed early.
However, new findings indicate that late bedtimes are likely detrimental to mental health for everyone, regardless of their natural sleep preferences. This association is linked to higher rates of depression and anxiety.
According to Jamie Zeitzer, the study’s senior author and a Stanford professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences stated, “We found that alignment with your chronotype is not crucial here, and that really it’s being up late that is not good for your mental health,” as San Francisco Chronicles reported.
Zeitzer added, “The big unknown is why.”
What more has the study revealed?
Participants who were naturally night owls and went to sleep late showed higher rates of depression and anxiety. Night owls had a 20-40% higher probability of being diagnosed with a mental health disorder compared to those who maintained early or intermediate sleep schedules.
However, night owls who went to sleep late were the most negatively impacted: They had between a 20 and 40 percent higher probability of being diagnosed with a mental health disorder than those Night Owls who went to sleep on an Early or Intermediate schedule.
Those early birds who go to sleep late are also not as healthy as they should be both physically and mentally; however, there is not so much deteriorating impact as the night owls.
The chronophobe thesis, referring to workers who went to bed early and woke up as soon as it started to get light, was one of the success stories.
These outcomes were identified regardless of the latter’s sleep quantities and regularity of sleep schedules, San Francisco Chronicles reported.
The study analyzed 74,000 middle-aged and older adults in the UK. Participants wore activity trackers for seven days to monitor their sleep patterns, and their health records were reviewed for mental and behavioral disorders.
About one-fourth of participants were evening people, 9 percent were morning people, and 65 percent fell somewhere in between.