Even though due to genetic predisposition he is inclined to fall asleep late and be less reactive in the morning, he should not go to sleep after a certain time: according to a study, in fact, this habit could increase the risk of developing mental disorders by up to 40%.
There are those who start off at full speed in the morning and those who struggle to keep their eyes open, those who fall asleep immediately after dinner in the evening and those who still feel full of energy late at night. In reality, it is not just a question of habit: theinternal clock of our bodywhich in scientific terms is defined chronotypein fact it depends on a individual genetic predispositionvery difficult to change.
Several studies have indicated the effect of chronotype on our body and many of these seemed to lean towards the hypothesis that it was more important for our well-being align with our chronotype rather than respecting a timetable imposed from outside. Now, however, a Stanford Medicine study has shown that, regardless of one’s chronotype, going to sleep after a certain time could be harmful for everyone. In particular, fall asleep after 1am appears to increase the risk of developing mental disorders such as anxiety and depression. Here we have calculated how many hours of sleep you should get per night.
The study on sleep habits
The researchers of Stanford Medicine they observed the data of almost 75,000 adults and compared their chronotype with theirs actual sleep habits. The audience of participants included both “larks” (people who are predisposed to waking up and falling asleep early) that “Owls” (this is what people who go to bed late by chronotype are called). Specifically of the 73,880 participants, 19,065 described themselves as morning people6,844 as evening types and 47,979 did not express a preference between the two extremes, placing themselves rather in the middle.
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From this study it emerged that everyone, including owls, is better off if they wake up early in the morning and that going to sleep after 1 am was associated with a higher rate of mental disorders And behavioral both in people who by chronotype tend to fall asleep early and in those who tend to go to bed late at night.
The results, published by Psychiatry Research, therefore contradict those who recommend not forcing one’s chronotype: go to sleep late it seems like one bad idea for your mental healthit matters little what we would be led to do by natural inclination.
The effects on mental health
The researchers had participants wear a monitor that tracked their actual times. Their habits were then related to their chronotype, and finally for each participant it was studied the medical record to highlight the possible onset of psychological disorders or conditions, such as anxiety or depression.
The interesting thing is that according to what emerged from this study, although going to sleep late increases the risk of mental disorders in both larks and owls, those most at risk I’m very people predisposed to going to bed late who actually fall asleep after 1 am: these had between 20% and 40% more risk to develope mental disorders compared to the group with the same chronotype who were forced to go to sleep earlier.
Because morning people have an advantage
People with the chronotype “lark” – the researchers suggest – paradoxically they could better manage the decision to go to sleep later, because they are aware of being out of their comfort zone. “If I had to make a guess, I think that when morning people stay up late, they are quite aware that their brain is no longer functioning well enough, so they might postpone decisions because they know they could turn out to be wrong,” hypothesized one of the authors of the study, the psychiatrist Jamie Zeitzer.
