12/07/2024 – 16:09
The belief that people are more productive in the morning is almost common sense in some circles. But a group of researchers has challenged this maxim. The study, published in the scientific journal BMJ Public Healthindicates that people with nocturnal habits have higher cognitive activity than morning people.
The group analyzed data from nearly 27,000 people aged 53 to 86 to investigate the relationship between sleep and cognitive abilities. The data was extracted from the UK Biobank, a biomedical repository of anonymized data from thousands of patients in the United Kingdom.
The researchers compared data from cognitive tests with each person’s time preferences. The “volunteers” were divided into two groups and, within this separation, they were classified as night owls (those people who say they prefer to do activities in the afternoon and evening) and day owls (those who prefer to do activities in the morning).
“Our study found that adults who are naturally more active in the evening tend to perform better on cognitive tests than those who are morning people,” Raha West told Imperial College London, one of the institutions involved in the study.
The results showed that in the first group, night owls performed 13.5% better than day owls. In the second group, the difference was 7.5%. West, however, said that the results show a trend and cannot be applied indiscriminately to define all people.
“It’s important to note that this does not mean that all morning people have worse cognitive performance. The findings reflect a general trend in which the majority may lean toward better cognition in evening types,” he said.
The researchers also make another caveat. More than a preference for sleep times, the duration of sleep is also very important. The study says that sleeping less than 7 hours or more than 9 hours per night can harm brain function.
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