According to a new study, higher type 2 diabetes incidence is associated with being a night owl.
Night Owls Have Higher Type 2 Diabetes Risk
The study discovered that people who sleep late and get up late have a 19% higher risk of developing type 22 diabetes compared to early birds. This figure was taken after considering various lifestyle and sociodemographic factors.
As many as 63,676 nurses who were 45 to 62 years old were involved in the study. Each one answered a questionnaire every two years from 2009 up until 2017. None of them had diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or cancer history when the study started.
The study specifically focused on chronotypes, the specific time of the day that a person leans towards. Simply stated, those who are "morning people" have a morning chronotype, while "evening people" or night owls have an evening chronotype.
35% of the participants identified as having a definite morning chronotype, while 11% self-reported a definite evening chronotype.
Evening chronotypes were found to have a 54% higher chance of having habits of unhealthy lifestyle. These include inadequate sleep, BMI, smoking, poor diet, and lack of physical activity. Before socioeconomic and other factors were taken into account, the type 2 diabetes risk for people belonging to this chronotype was 72% higher. This shows that these factors, including diabetes family history, work shift, and several lifestyle habits, could also be connected to higher diabetes incidence.
Read also: Night Owls Could Be Twice As Likely to Underperform At Work: Learn How to Become a Morning Person
Chronotypes: Evening People or Morning People
Dr. Kehuan Lin from Harvard University explains that there is a possibility that life circumstances and work type are common factors behind lifestyle and chronotype. A person's chronotype may also be individualized, according to Dr. Steven Malin, who serves as a metabolism and endocrinology associate professor from Rutgers University. Dr. Malin further suggests that this may be relatively connected to the matching of the body's internal clock with the clock of societal function, which is called circadian entertainment.
Dr. Malin adds that morning chronotypes work better within five hours after waking up. Evening chronotypes, on the other hand, may need 10 to 12 hours more. He adds that as people prefer to wake up, move, and eat later, their body ends up getting entrained. The behavior-circadian mismatch may predispose one to having a greater nutrient storage that increases risk of obesity.
He discovered in a study that evening chronotypes have higher risk factors compared to morning people. These risk factors include hypertension, insulin resistance, and heart rate levels.
While Dr. Malin thinks of chronotype as having a genetic basis, Dr. Lin envisions further research to look into the difference between natural night owls and those who become night owls due to circumstances.
Dr. Malin also proposes mind re-training via cues. Evening chronotypes who want to become morning people should try to wake up 15 to 30 minutes earlier during the day, eat their breakfast, and move more during the morning. They might also have to avoid physical activity and food during the evening and try to go to bed 15 to 30 minutes earlier than usual.
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