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Late To Bed, Early To Die? Night Owls May Die Sooner (livescience.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: Bad news for "night owls": Those who tend to stay up late and sleep in well past sunrise are at increased risk of early death, a new study from the United Kingdom suggests. The research, which involved nearly half a million people, found that self-described "evening people" were 10 percent more likely to die over a 6.5-year period, compared with self-described morning people. The findings add to a growing body of research that suggests that being a night owl could have negative effects on health. Many of these effects may be attributable to a misalignment between a person's internal clock, or circadian rhythm, and the socially imposed timing of work and other activities, the researchers said. "'Night owls' trying to live in a 'morning lark' world may have health consequences for their bodies," study co-author Kristen Knutson, an associate professor of neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said in a statement.
I couldn't agree more. I think its more likely that people who tend to stay up late and sleep in are associated with more risk taking behavior.
"Death" is a hell of a test factor for an experiment, especially irrespective of cause.
That said, i bet if we dug into the data there's way better clickbait titles to be mined in there.
If someone contracted herpes during the experiment, would sleeping in increase your chances of getting herpes?
How about buying a new car?
If you sleep in are you more likely to buy a Ford?
If i were to completely unscientifically and sight unseen postulate an actual takeaway from a study like this, I would bet that most of these "night owls" work part time or multiple jobs. That is a data point that I would be more interested in.
Reminds me of the book, "Eastern Standard Tribe", by Cory Doctorow.
Since you don't know each others timezones, you might both be waking up at the same time, putting you both in the same tribe.
The headline is also a lie. It's contradicted in the summary itself. This study isn't about going to bed early or late; it's about how much sleep one gets at night (ie: "Night owls' trying to live in a 'morning lark' world"). If the night owls' simply slept in just as much as they stayed up, it would be an entirely different study.