According to a new study published in Chronobiology International, How long ‘night owls’ survive is not significantly affected by how late they stay up. However, data on almost 23,000 twins reveals that night types have a slightly higher risk of passing away than morning types, primarily tied to smoking and alcohol consumption. According to a study conducted in Finland over 37 years, lifestyle should be considered.
This is when examining how chronotype—the body’s innate propensity to go to sleep at particular times—affects health. The Finnish Institute of Occupational Health in Helsinki’s Dr. Christer Hublin is the study’s lead author. “Our results indicate that there’s little or no independent contribution from chronotype to mortality,” he says.
Additionally, the higher nicotine and alcohol intake linked to being a definitely “evening” person appears to be the leading cause of the increased mortality risk. This is contrasted with those who are obviously “morning” people.
Eurek Alert also reported that there is mounting evidence that night shift work, sleep duration, and quality all have an impact on health. Previous research has connected night owls with an increased risk of disease, particularly cardiac issues.
Evening persons had a slightly increased risk of dying from any cause, including disease and heart conditions, according to data from the UK Biobank published in 2018. This study followed participants for 6.5 years.
In 2018, the researchers checked in on the participants to see if any had passed away. They used information from national registrations as the basis for this. The authors considered the following factors: education level, daily alcohol intake, status and amount of smoking, BMI, and amount of sleep.
According to the findings, 2,262 and 7,591 of the twins identified as “definite” and “to some extent” evening types. 6,354 and 6,769 were the numbers for morning people, respectively.
Night owls were younger and smoked/drank more than morning people. Those who are definite night owls were also less likely to claim to receive 8 hours of sleep. 8,728 participants had passed away by 2018, and night owls had a 9% higher likelihood of passing away from any cause than early birds.
The investigation discovered that chronotype was not the primary cause of these deaths but alcohol and smoking. This result was clear because nonsmokers did not face an elevated mortality risk. In addition to alcohol-related illnesses, unintentional alcohol poisoning was one of the causes of alcohol-related deaths.
They could better connect their findings to society as a whole, according to Dr. Kaprio. The UK Biobank’s participants had better health than the typical person, but its participants’ health was the same as that of the overall population.They point out that one advantage of their research is the availability of extensive data on lifestyle factors. The results, however, were based on self-reported information from a single inquiry.
