In the ongoing debate over whether it’s better to be a night owl or an early bird, new evidence suggests that night owls are nearly 50% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those who quickly call it a night.
The inhabitants of darkness have a late chronotype, which means that they prefer to go to bed late and wake up late. This behavior has been linked to greater likelihood of tobacco use and unhealthy eating habits, putting them at risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes, a chronic metabolic disease.
“However, we believe that lifestyle cannot fully explain the relationship between a delayed chronotype and metabolic disorders,” said Jeroen van der Velde, a researcher at Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands.
“In addition, while it is known that a late chronotype is associated with high [body mass index]it is not clear to what extent chronotype affects the distribution of body fat,” added van der Velde.
His team studied the relationship between sleep time, diabetes and body fat distribution in more than 5,000 people enrolled in the Netherlands Obesity Epidemiology study.
The volunteers, who were mostly in their mid-50s, shared their usual waking and sleeping hours.
Participants were divided into three groups – early chronotype (20% of participants with the earliest sleep schedules), late chronotype (20% of participants with the latest sleep schedules) and intermediate chronotype (60%).
The participants were tracked for almost seven years – during that time, 225 were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
After adjusting the results for age, sex, education, total body fat and lifestyle factors such as physical activity, diet quality and alcohol consumption, the researchers determined that participants with a late chronotype had a 46% higher risk of diabetes than those with an intermediate chronotype. .
The results show that the increased risk of diabetes for late chronotypes cannot be blamed solely on lifestyle, van der Velde said.
“One possible explanation is that the circadian rhythm or body clock in late chronotypes is out of sync with the work and social schedules followed by society,” he reasoned. “This can lead to circadian misalignment, which we know can lead to metabolic disturbances and ultimately type 2 diabetes.”
Van der Velde’s team expected early chronotypes to have a similar risk of diabetes to intermediate chronotypes — they found that early birds actually had a slightly higher risk, but “this was not statistically significant.”
The researchers also found that late chronotypes had a higher BMI, larger waist circumference, more visceral fat – harmful fat wrapped around the internal organs – and higher liver fat content compared to those with an intermediate chronotype.
“People with a late chronotype appear to be at greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to those with an intermediate chronotype, possibly due to higher body fat including more visceral and liver fat,” van der Velde said.
“The next step is to study whether those with a late chronotype improve metabolic health when they make changes in the timing of their lifestyle habits,” he added.
Night owls should consider stopping eating at a specific time, such as 6 p.m., van der Velde said, because the timing of meals can affect digestion and metabolism.
“The evidence isn’t there yet, but, over time, we aim to provide specific advice about the timing of lifestyle behaviors,” said van der Velde.
His findings – which will be presented this week at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes – follow recent research suggesting that being a night owl may be good for your cognitive function and bad for your mental health. .
Dr. Mitchell Roslin, chief of bariatric and metabolic surgery at North Westchester Hospital and Lenox Hill Hospital, said poor sleep habits make obesity and diabetes more likely and lead to higher release of stress hormones like cortisol.
“Cortisol and stress further increase glucose levels and promote weight gain,” Roslin, who was not involved in the new study, told The Post. “Weight gain increases the chance of sleep apnea and insulin resistance. It’s easy to see the ball running downhill.”
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