Some people are born night owls, while others can't help but get up early to catch the day. Sleep research experts often consider this trait to be immutable and is known as the chronotype, or the need for sleep in each body at a specific time. In short, night owls often struggle to become early birds. Now, however, researchers at Baylor University believe that the type of time is more flexible than most people think.
Genetics certainly predisposes us to favor the time of the morning or evening, but researchers believe that being a night owl may also stem from behavioral choices. Whether biological, institutional, or the result of behavioral choices, becoming a permanent night owl (nocturnal sleep) has been linked to poor sleep health, low classroom alertness, and decreased academic performance.
So, Baylor sleep researcher Michael KDr. Scullin, associate professor of psychology and neuroscience, and Ph.D. candidate in psychology at the Scullin Sleep Lab, set out to examine how institutional factors, biological factors, and behavioral choices play a role in college students' sleep problems, and whether the type of time is more malleable than current theories suggest.
Using a series of surveys conducted during the 2018-19 academic year, the researchers asked 858 undergraduate students enrolled in demanding science courses to self-rate their sleep behavior and quality, state their time type, assess their academic demands and stress levels, and report on their caffeine and social Xi.
Night owls started early and were one step behind.
Students in the evening and morning types showed similar levels of stress and academic demands, but the night-time sleep types showed significantly reduced sleep quality and duration. The study authors reported that evening types were at a disadvantage when they had to wake up early for class or work.
College students identified as the evening type exhibited several behaviors that have been known to delay bedtime, shorten sleep duration, and worsen sleep quality. Examples include using social** for 40 minutes in bed, consuming caffeine later in the day, and napping more than in the morning, all of which lead to less sleep at night, worse sleep quality, and more sleepiness in class.
As the semester continued, some students reported changes in their time type. This time shift is associated with behavioral changes that ultimately lead to improved sleep health, reduced sleepiness, and increased semester GPA.
Engaging in healthier daytime behaviors can lead to better sleep, which then feeds back into a better daytime life," Scullin said in the university release. "When your daytime life is better, you can often go to bed early, enjoy better sleep quality, and go into a good cycle.
Students who were able to switch from an evening type to a morning type, or simply a morning type, showed significantly better semester GPAs compared to students who kept the evening type or switched from the morning type to the evening type. They also consumed less caffeine after 5 p.m. and showed significant improvements in both quantity and quality.
Barley points out that some simple changes can improve sleep quality:
Avoid electronics before bedtime.
Avoid caffeine and other stimulants at least six hours before bedtime.
Avoid long naps during the day.
Avoid exercising at night.
At the same time, Scullin stresses that temporal malleability is still a new idea. Therefore, not all night owls should try to be early birds, and vice versa. Everyone should focus on getting the quality sleep they need to be healthy and productive.