People who stay up late are at higher risk of developing depression, new evidence has demonstrated.
Researchers from the University of Surrey have found that depression is more common among night owls because they often drink more alcohol and have poorer sleep quality.
A total of 546 university students filled in a virtual survey to outline their sleep patterns, rumination tendencies, alcohol use, mindfulness and depression and anxiety levels.
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The survey found that night owls are more likely to be affected by depression compared to early birds.
This could be down to people staying up later at night often having poorer sleep quality, consuming more alcohol and acting with less mindfulness, the findings have reported.
The authors said: “Interventions aimed at mindfulness, sleep and alcohol use might have the potential to reduce depression risk, among young adults in particular.
“With many young adults experiencing poor mental health, these study findings are particularly important – many young adults tend to stay up late and the results point to how interventions could be implemented to reduce their risk of depression.”
The study was published in the open-access journal PLOS One.
