Recent research found that people who wake up earlier, or early birds, are less likely to develop depression.
Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder and Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston conducted the study. It was published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research. There were 32,000 nurses, with an average age 52. Each participant was asked their natural sleep and wake times preference at the beginning of the four-year study. This is known scientifically as your chronotype.
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All participants self-diagnosed as being free of depression at the beginning of the study. Researchers followed the participants for four years to observe how their mental health changed. These were the results? The results?
Cline Vetter, the lead author, assured me that it is okay to not be a morning person. She spoke over the telephone with me. Our results showed that there was a slight relationship between depression risk and chronotype, but you can still influence your chronotype.
Vetter explains that while While chronotype can be partially determined genetically, it can also be regulated by the environment and our exposure to light.According to her, the best thing you can do for your chronotype’s health is to observe the natural phases of light/darkness. This means that you should go to bed at night and rise with the sun.
Vetter says that if you take people outside of an urban area and let them go camping for a weekend then you can measure their circadian phase in a laboratory. This is due to the natural contrast between day and night.
This study is different from others that focus on depression risk and chronotype. The fact that researchers controlled for other factors that could lead to depression, such as marital status, chronic disease, and physical activity, is a major difference. They did include Vitamin D levels as a proxy for light exposure. They were unable to measure light exposure patterns and durations, or how this might have affected depression risk.
Vetter said that the next steps were to investigate how genetics and light exposure might impact their findings.
I asked why nurses and why only women were being employed. It was partly because it was convenient since the study was done at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston’s Channing Division of Network Medicine.
Self-reported depression rates can also be used, which can lead to errors.The advantage to studying nursing is that their professions include reporting on depression and accessing medical professionals. They were asked to self-report their depression and receive a diagnosis from a healthcare professional.
Vetter says that while we are still susceptible to errors, it is a very special population.
Vetter acknowledged that they would like to examine how the same study might impact both men and women (depression risk in your 20s, 30s and beyond).
We still have much to do before we can declare that all night-owls will be free of depression, but there is still much work to be done. This study did not find any significant differences in people with different chronotypes. If you want to be more morning-oriented, try to get your circadian rhythm in sync with the natural phases.This means that you should be able to see natural light throughout the day and dim the lights at night.
Don’t be afraid to be a night owl. Vetter has the answer.
We like to emphasize the importance of getting enough sleep, exercising, spending time outside, and turning down your lights at night.
