Think back to the last time you got to sleep on your own terms; no post-midnight cramming session, no 8:30 classes the next day. It was probably quite a while ago, but try and remember when you went to bed. Was the sun just setting, or was it nearly rising? In other words, are you an early bird or night owl?
Scientists have been finding evidence which supports the idea that people can be “early birds” or “night owls” since the late 19th century, dubbing these people “early chronotypes” and “late chronotypes” respectively. But new research into chronotypes has pushed our understanding of the phenomenon even further.
In an article published in Science Direct, German scientists analyzed the brains of 59 men using a Diffusion MRI and separated them into early, intermediate and late chronotype groups based on their natural sleeping pattern. They found that the white matter—the tissue in the brain associated with communication between different regions of the nervous system—in night owls was less substantial then that of early birds, especially in areas associated with depression.
The researchers further found that late chronotypes were the most likely group to use legal substances such as alcohol and cigarettes and their sleeping cycles fit poorly with “conventional social schedules”. They therefore recommend that “ideally, work schedules… should fit with chronotype-specificity to reduce suboptimal or even erroneous performance at work…”
While it would take much time for such a recommendation to be implemented—if it is implemented at all—we can all hope that universities will be among the first adopters and that a good night’s rest will become more than just a dream.
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