In medical science, based on personality, activities, and physical activity, people are divided into two parts – morning or day person and the other night person, also known as night person. Morning person means those people whose brain is more active in the morning and day, and who easily get up early in the morning. On the contrary, the highest productivity of night people is seen in the evening or night, although these people sleep late at night and wake up late in the morning. Health experts tell that your personality affects your health and eating habits.
In a related study, researchers reported that people with a 'night person' personality may be at a higher risk of premature death than morning persons. The habit of alcohol smoking has been seen more in such people, which is a condition that directly increases many chronic diseases.
Night VS Morning Person
Before understanding why a night person's life is considered short, it is necessary to know that apart from your habits some genes determine whether you will be a morning person or a night person.
We all have an internal clock in our bodies that helps control many aspects of our lives, including our sleep/wake cycles. This clock is mainly driven by ambient light, which is why we sleep when it is dark outside and are active during the day.
One study found that people with delayed sleep phase disorder (night persons) have a genetic mutation in a gene called CRY1, which causes them to fall asleep later than the normal set time.
Now let's go back to the study.
Risk of premature death in night person
The team of researchers, based on the analysis of the habits of people with both personality types, found that generally, night persons may have a higher risk of premature death, the main reason for which is considered to be alcohol-smoking tendency.
The study, published in the International Journal of Chronobiology, analyzed health and lifestyle data from more than 23,000 people. More than 8700 of the participants died in this research that lasted 37 years. Most of these people were those who were classified as night persons and had high alcohol-smoking habits.
Many factors may be responsible
During this research, we tried to understand the factors that could increase the death rate of people, says genetic epidemiologist Jaakko Caprio at the University of Helsinki, Finland. It was found that night people had higher body mass index (BMI), risk of chronic diseases, and alcohol-smoking habits. Also, most of these people were victims of sleep disorders. All these conditions can increase inflammation in the body and affect metabolism, which is directly responsible for life-threatening problems.
After controlling for these factors in the participants, the researchers found that if lifestyle changes were made, the risk of premature mortality of night persons could be reduced by 9 percent.
What do researchers say?
Professor Caprio says it is not clear what are the reasons for the high habit of smoking and drinking among night persons. These may be initial attempts to reduce the side effects of sleep deprivation, which over time can become a habit and lead to more serious problems.
It has been underlined in the research that if you fix the lifestyle then the risks can be reduced, but it is more important that we fix the sleep-wake time. Health cannot be restored as long as the internal clock is out of whack.
(PC: Freepik)