Do "night owls" have better brain function? Here's what study says

BOSTON - A new study out of the U.K. says so-called "night owls" may have better brain function.

Researchers in the U.K. looked at data on more than 26,000 people looking at their sleep patterns, duration, and quality. They found that sleeping between seven and nine hours a night was optimum for brain function but they also found that people who are naturally more active in the evening performed better on cognitive tests compared to those who were more active in the morning.

In fact, so-called "morning larks" scored consistently lower on these tests compared to both "night owls" and people who fell in between. That doesn't mean that all morning people have worse cognitive performance. They simply noticed a trend. And they said it's most important to get seven to nine hours of sleep a night.