Studies are always trying to determine if being an early bird or a night owl makes a difference in your health. New work suggests that night owls are almost 50 percent more likely to develop blood sugar concerns than folks who go to bed earlier.
The study has nuance. People who stay up late are also more likely to use tobacco and eat less healthily. Both habits increase the risk of obesity and developing blood sugar concerns. The researchers said that they don’t believe tobacco use and diet alone can explain an almost 50 percent higher risk for blood sugar concerns and believe sleep patterns are an additional, separate factor.
The study used more than 5,000 people, mostly in their mid-50s. They were followed for about seven years. They reported their general bedtime and the time they woke up. The group was divided into early birds, night owls and intermediate.
In the seven years, 225 people developed blood sugar concerns. The researchers ruled out age, gender, weight and lifestyle factors. The night owls were 46 percent more likely to develop a serious blood sugar concern than the intermediate people.
The researchers suggested that being a night owl isn’t a problem in and of itself. The problem is that their body clocks are “out of sync with the work and social schedules followed by society.” If you have to get up for work or a morning routine at a specific time despite going to bed late, you simply cannot get enough sleep. If they could get enough sleep, their bedtime might not impact their health.
Dr. Jeroen van der Velde, the lead researcher at Leiden Univ. Medical Centre did have advice. He recognized that some people might have trouble falling asleep early. But, he recommended an earlier dinner for night owls, technically called having a late chronotype.
“People with a late chronotype are probably more likely to eat until later in the evening,” said Dr. van der Velde. “While we did not measure this in our study, there is growing evidence that time-restricted eating, not eating anything after a certain time, such as 6pm, may lead to metabolic benefits. Night owls who are concerned about the increased risk of [blood sugar concerns] might want to try this or, at least, try to refrain from eating late in the evening.”
Night owls can also benefit from exercise like walking, yoga or swimming early in the day to wake up fully. That can help work extra movement into the day that they may be missing.
