'Night owls' may have a higher risk of type 2 diabetes than 'early birds'

From medicalnewstoday.com

• Night owls are 54% more likely to develop unhealthy lifestyle habits, according to a new study.
• As a result, the study found that they are also 19% more likely to develop diabetes.
• One may become an “evening chronotype” due to genetics or as a response to lifestyle choices or working conditions.
• By re-training the body, one may change from a night owl to an early riser.

Being a “night owl” is associated with a greater incidence of type 2 diabetes, according to a new study from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Massachusetts.

The study found that people who go to bed late and get up late are 19% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than early birds after considering all sociodemographic and lifestyle factors.

The research focuses on chronotypes—the time of day one gravitates toward. So-called “morning people” have a morning chronotype, while people who prefer the evening and night hours have an “evening” chronotype.

The study involved 63,676 nurses from the ages of 45 to 62. Each participant filled out a questionnaire every two years from 2009 until 2017. None had a history of cancer, cardiovascular disease, or diabetes at the study’s outset.

Of the participants, 11% described themselves as having a “definite evening” chronotype, while 35% said they had a “definite morning” chronotype.

The researchers also considered an intermediate chronotype for people not strongly associating with the other chronotypes.

Evening chronotype people were 54% more likely to have unhealthy lifestyle habits, including smoking, inadequate sleep duration, higher weight and BMI, lack of physical activity, and poorer-quality diet.

Before factoring for socioeconomic factors, shift work, family history of diabetes, and several of these lifestyle habits — especially high BMI and low physical activity levels — the risk of diabetes for people with an evening chronotype was much higher at 72%. This suggests that these factors, as opposed to an evening chronotype itself, may have much to do with the higher incidence of diabetes.

The study and an accompanying editorial are published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/night-owls-have-higher-risk-of-type-2-diabetes-than-early-birds