So, what is your chronotype? If you don’t know what it is, well, it is a measure to determine your preference of when you want to get up in the morning and go to bedtime. People can assume between two chronotypes: having a morning chronotype, or that of an evening chronotype. Those that go to bed early in the evening and wakes up early are the former, while the latter are those who go late in hitting the sack and late in waking up the following morning. If you determine yourself as being an evening chronotype or a night owl in the common terms, then you are facing a health risk! It is essential to think that there are research results proving you might be at increased risk of obesity, diabetes, mood disorders when you keep on sleeping late at night.
At Risk of Diabetes
Those who are night owls are found to be at risk in easily developing belly fat and other metabolic diseases such as diabetes. Why does this happen? Most night owls do have poor quality sleep because they would most likely spend much of their time sleeping while all the others are busy with their days; their sleep could very much be disturbed by noises, light, and even certain emergency situation. On the other hand, these night owls are most likely the people who are easily tempted to engage in unhealthy habits such as eating late at night, drinking alcohol, and even smoking. These predisposing factors will greatly contribute to the development of diabetes. That is why it might be essential to think twice about your sleeping pattern, and you just might want to reconsider what chronotype you want to be.
Depression Risk of A Night Owl
Most night owls have a bigger chance of developing diabetes, and diabetes can also increase your risk of developing depression. This is a point where the circadian rhythm plays a role in your psychological function. When you sleep late at night, you will have an alteration in your circadian functioning and it can certainly affect your mental and physical wellbeing. That is why you will feel that you are more easily angered or that you have mood alterations, or increase irritability when you are always sleeping late at night. It is important to find the courage to change the sleeping pattern that you longed to love because it can always make you feel depressed and agitated. On the other hand, there some research studies point to the fact that night owls have less white matter in their brain, and this white matter is an essential component that will help carry the impulses (an essential factor in brain cell communication); a decrease in white matter means that there is decrease in normal brain function.
Night Owls Are Sleep Deprived
Whether you like it or not, you live in a world that’s dominated by early birds. That is why if you are a night owl who have a regular 8 to 5 job, then functioning at your very best, early in the morning, could be a daunting one for you. Thus, you will most likely experience sleep deprivation as you need to adapt to your daily morning activities. When done repeatedly, the constant sleep deprivation that you are experiencing could most likely have a negative effect on your body. This is the moment where social jet lag will come, this means that you will experience constant fatigue which can be attributed to the poor sleep that you got in relation to the social responsibilities that you have to do in the morning. That is why you need to recognize that sleep deprivation as a result of being a night owl will harm you in a way or another.
When you have been used to sleeping late, today could be the perfect time to somehow change your sleeping pattern. Although it could be a bit challenging to change the pattern that you have been accustomed to, you must muster all the courage that you could ever have so that you can be away from the negative health effects that being a night owl can do to your body. Gradual change in the way you sleep could really improve your health and that is what you must always keep in mind. Your health is wealth; it is for this reason that you need to exert effort into making sure that you will be in the best shape ever. Quality sleep is an important component of a good health, and it is something that you should invest into so you will be at bay from developing diseases such as diabetes and obesity, as well as that of psychological problems like depression and anxiety.
