If you’re a night owl, you might want to go to bed earlier.
A recent Stanford University study published in the journal Psychiatric Research found that going to bed after 1 a.m. could lead to mental health problems.
The researchers analysed data from more than 73,000 UK adults, looking at their chronotype (tendency to wake up early or stay up late) and how much sleep they actually got.
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The study then investigated the association between the two and the prevalence of mental, behavioral, and neurodevelopmental disorders (MBN), depression, and anxiety.
A study has found that people who are morning types and go to bed early are “mentally healthier” than those who are morning types and go to bed late.
A Stanford University study found that early risers tend to be mentally healthier overall. (iStock)
People who tend to be morning types and sleep later are at higher risk for MBN, depression, and anxiety.
It has also been found that people who are night owls and sleep late are at a lower risk of developing depression.
Based on these findings, the researchers recommended getting to bed by 1 a.m. regardless of preference.
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Dr. Jamie Zeitzer, a professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University in California and co-author of the study, said he was surprised by the results.
“This was a completely unexpected result,” he said in an email to Fox News Digital. “We spent over a year trying to disprove the findings and were unable to find an alternative explanation.”
“We expected that night owls would be okay, but in the end they were at higher risk of developing mental illness than night owls who went to bed earlier,” one researcher said. (iStock)
The researchers initially expected that people who aligned their actual sleep times with their morning/evening preferences would be the most mentally healthy, but this wasn’t the case, Zeitzer noted.
“Instead, we found that staying up late was associated with poorer mental health, regardless of preferred sleep time,” he said.
According to Zeitzer, good quality sleep is “critical to building the foundation of good mental health.”
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“necessarily [the case] “Lack of sleep leads to poor mental health, but it can certainly lead to poorer mental health,” he said.
“Sleep has several aspects. [to mental health]This includes duration (which our study took into account) and timing (which our study directly investigated).”
Sleep experts say not getting enough sleep has been proven to negatively impact mental health. (iStock)
While it may not be harmful for all night owls to stick to their preferred nighttime sleep schedule, the study found there could be risks for some, Zeitzer said.
“It’s unclear why this is the case, but it may have something to do with the sense of loneliness that often accompanies late-night activities,” he said.
“So it’s crucial to be aware of how you spend your time late into the night and whether these behaviours are conducive to good mental health.”
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Dr. Wendy Troxell, a sleep expert in Utah who was not involved in the study, agreed that the findings were “very interesting,” especially the fact that going to bed later was associated with poorer mental health, regardless of a person’s natural tendencies.
“These findings highlight that sleep health is a multifaceted condition,” Troxell said in an interview with Fox News Digital.
“It’s not just about getting enough sleep or good quality sleep, but also timing.”
“Regularly going to bed too late can lead to impaired decision-making and emotional regulation.”
Not getting enough sleep has been shown to “affect the brain mechanisms that regulate emotions” and impair mental health, she added.
“Regularly going to bed extremely late (after 1am) can lead to impaired decision-making and emotional regulation, which may lead to mental health problems such as depression and anxiety,” she said.
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Troxell noted that the findings are also interesting when applied to specific groups who tend to be night owls, such as teenagers.
“Biologically, teenagers tend to stay up later and go to bed later, which is inconsistent with early school start times,” she said.
“This results in a ‘double whammy’ of sleep deprivation and delayed sleep schedules, which can lead to mental health problems. This is a major public health issue among teenagers.”
Dr. Wendy Troxell, a senior behavioral scientist at the RAND Corporation, is the author of Sharing the Covers: Every Couple’s Guide to Better Sleep and serves as a scientific advisor to the Sleep Foundation. (Diane Baldwin)
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Troxel recommends taking the following steps to improve the quality of your sleep:
Start by slowly moving your bedtime forward by 15 minutes each week.
Next, she recommends getting plenty of sunlight in the morning, as it’s “one of the most powerful cues for regulating your circadian rhythm,” and keeping the lights low in the evening.
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It’s important to keep a consistent sleep schedule, even on weekends, advises one sleep expert. (iStock)
Finally, Troxell suggested keeping your sleep schedule consistent, including on weekends.
This can be especially hard for night owls, but delaying your bedtime and wake-up time “puts you back to square one,” she warned.
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The key to successfully changing your sleep habits is to do it gradually, says Troxell.
“This is similar to the approach recommended when rescheduling to manage jet lag,” she said.
Being conscious of how you spend your late nights is “critical” for good mental health, one researcher said. (iStock)
Zeitzer noted that changing a sleep schedule can be hard for anyone, especially those who like to have “extreme” hours, like staying up until 4 a.m. or waking up before 5 a.m.
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Going to bed and waking up at the same time every day, along with exposure to bright light, is the best way to make the change successful, he said.
Angelica Stabile is a lifestyle writer for Fox News Digital.
