Late night behaviour can turn night owl into early bird

Author: Rein Lukkes

We’ve all been there: lecture at 9. Dead tired. Brain like a sieve. Being a night owl often clashes with lecture times. Although it is widely believed that our preferred bedtime is fixed, researchers at Baylor University, Texas have found that it can be influenced by certain habits.

Researchers at Baylor University were trying to find whether sleep time preferences are influenced by more than just natural rhythm. To do so, they surveyed around 900 students over the course of several semesters, on a number of topics that they expected to influence their sleeping patterns. These included subjects like specific behaviours, stress levels, and to what extent they perceive themselves as a morning or evening person.

Messing with melatonin

Contrary to what the researchers were expecting, only certain habits were seen to be different between early and late risers. Evening people had on average 22% greater bedtime social media usage, 27% greater daytime napping duration, and 46% greater likelihood of consuming caffeine after 5pm. They showed a lower amount of total sleep during specifically the weekdays, lower sleep quality and a higher amount of sleepiness during class. 

Both caffeine intake later in the day and the blue light of digital devices can delay the creation of melatonin, a hormone our bodies create to become sleepy. In a similar manner, taking naps later in the day or for too long can disrupt when your body produces melatonin. These habits can influence your sleeping pattern in the long term.

Joining the winning side

Interestingly, the researchers found that about 20% of the students switched their preferred sleep time over the course of the surveys. Among the students who switched from being evening people to morning people there was a reduction of the habits described above, and an increase in sleep time and quality.

As it turns out, students that identified as early birds at the end of the surveys had higher average grades. The researchers do specify that there are many late sleepers for whom their sleep schedule poses no problem to their academic results.

Not everyone can change their sleeping pattern. Not everyone should want to. Genetic factors have a strong influence on our sleeping preferences, but certain habits seem to have an influence as well. Perhaps changing a few habits could help you sleep more soundly at night. You might just be awake enough to follow that next early lecture. Barring any other reasons to stay up late the night before.