An international group of scientists from Britain and the United States completed a large-scale study of chronotypes man, which lasted 6.5 years, and came to the conclusion that people-“owls” likely to die earlier meted out to them biological term. About their work, the researchers shared in a specialized journal Chronobiology International.
“People are nocturnal not by choice, but due to the peculiarities of the psyche and physiology. Our task is to help such people adjust to life and resorting to preventive measures, to take care of your health” — says one of the authors of the study Kristen Knutson, of northwestern University (USA).
“Perhaps our study confirms that “owls” have their own biological clock, which does not coincide with the time out of their consciousness,” adds the researcher, noting that due to chronic lack of sleep “owls” is much more likely to undermine their health compared to the “larks”.
“Later falling asleep and waking is a problem, the existence of which the society cannot ignore,” says the Professor of chronobiology, University of Surrey Malcolm von Shantz.
In large-scale study involved more than half a million volunteers in England aged 38 to 73 years. To analyze the data are also collected on sex, race, body mass index, the presence of diseases, and Smoking habits of participants, and also about how many hours per day they sleep.
The results of the study show that the risk of early death from “owls” at 10 percent higher than that of people who adhere to the natural order of alternation of wakefulness and sleep.
Traditionally, there are three types of human chronotypes, among them: “owl”, “bird” and “dove”. People whose chronotype corresponded to the “early bird” or “pigeon”, most have no problems with morning awakening and wakefulness during the day. “Owls” constantly prevents drowsiness.
Activity in the modern world is more tailored to “the lark”: the worker and the school day begins quite early, making some tasks more difficult for the owls. Constant lack of sleep caused by the need to get up early, lead to the emergence of so-called “social jetlag”. Recently, for example, scientists have found that due to the early start of classes at the University, those who prefer to lead a more evening-night lifestyle, get scores worse. The “owls” are more social, compared to those who used to get up at the crack of dawn. The latter, in turn, prefer to communicate only with friends.
The need to adapt to morning-day activities can have a negative impact on the health of the owls. In the report the scientists noted that “owls”, according to the findings, the most prone to cardiovascular diseases (heart attacks, strokes, cardio-vascular insufficiency), disorders of the endocrine system (diabetes, dysfunction of major endocrine glands).
Nocturnal also provokes the development of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, lung disorders and mental disorders, said the results of the study.
Scientists say that their work is the first major study of the links between human chronotype and risk of death from various natural causes. In the future, it is necessary to conduct more research that can help to determine the physiological reasons for this connection.
Study: prefer night life at risk to die early
Nikolai Khizhnyak