A common belief in American culture is that people who wake up early have all the advantages. As the sayings go, “Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise,” and “Early bird catches the worm.”
It makes sense. Early risers are seen as better disciplined and their schedules are more aligned with modern-day work culture.
However, a new study by researchers at Imperial College London has found the opposite: Night owls do better on cognitive tests that measure their brain function than those who get up at the crack of dawn. The researchers embarked on the study to help people suffering from age-related cognitive decline .
“Our interest in this topic stemmed from a broader curiosity about how lifestyle factors, particularly sleep, influence brain health. Given the aging population and the rising prevalence of cognitive decline, understanding the relationship between sleep patterns and cognitive function could help develop better interventions and health guidelines to maintain cognitive health in older adults,” study authors Raha West and Daqquing Ma said, according to Psypost.
To determine whether early risers' or night owls' brains work best, the researchers asked just under 27,000 participants the number of hours they sleep at night and what time they go to bed. They also tested them on reasoning, memory, verbal and mathematical intelligence, reaction time and prospective memory.
After crunching the numbers, they found that night owls did much better on the cognitive tests than those who got up early. “Our study found that adults who are naturally more active in the evening (what we called 'eveningness') tended to perform better on cognitive tests than those who are 'morning people,'" West said, according to New Atlas.
The researchers studied 2 different groups of people. The night owls in Group 1 scored 13.5% better on their brain function tests than early risers, and the night owls in Group 2 did 6.5% better.
Further, the folks in the middle (neither night owls nor early risers) performed better than the early risers (10.6% and 6.3%).
“In my expert opinion, the main takeaway should be that the cultural belief that early risers are more productive than ‘night owls’ does not hold up to scientific scrutiny,” Dr. Jessica Chelekis, Senior Lecturer in Sustainability Global Value Chains and a sleep expert from Brunel University London, told Science Media Centre. “While everyone should aim to get good-quality sleep each night, we should also try to be aware of what time of day we are at our (cognitive) best and work in ways that suit us. Night owls, in particular, should not be shamed into fitting a stereotype that favors an ‘early to bed, early to rise’ practice.”
The study provides good ammunition for night owls, often stereotyped as lazy party animals, to push back against those who like to get up when the rooster crows. The question remains: Why do early risers have so much brain fog? A night owl may presume they are still sleepy from waking up so early.
West says that the study shouldn’t be used to judge early risers and that those who’d like to change their sleep habits should do so.
“It's important to note that this doesn't mean all morning people have worse cognitive performance," West said. "The findings reflect an overall trend where the majority might lean towards better cognition in the evening types. While it’s possible to shift your natural sleep habits by gradually adjusting your bedtime, increasing evening light exposure, and keeping a consistent sleep schedule, completely changing from a morning to an evening person is complex.”
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