The brain works differently if you are a night person



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Getting to bed early and getting up early makes a man healthy, rich and wise – the old saying of Benjamin Franklin is well known. But to what extent is this true?

In recent discoveries, British researchers have revealed that the brain functions of morning larks and night owls can have harmful consequences on their brains.

As you may know, morning larks refer to people who went to bed before 11 pm and woke up at 6:30 am Night owls, as defined in this study, go to bed around 2.30am and get up a little after 10am.

The new article, published in SLEEP magazine, involved 38 participants in one group or another on the basis of sleep / wake monitoring and questionnaires. All participants underwent an MRI as well as a series of tests throughout the day.

Compared with their counterparts, morning larks reported feeling less sleepy and had a faster reaction time when tested earlier in the day. The researchers noted that the difference was quite strong.

In the evening, the badociation reversed, as night owls had a faster reaction time and were less sleepy. However, the difference was not so significant.

Dr. Elise Facer-Childs, lead author, explained how people at night could be disadvantaged all their lives. "During school time, night owls have to get up earlier, then they go to work and get up early, so they have to constantly fight against their innate preferences and rhythms."

Unless the person works at night, the typical workday lasts from 9:00 to 17:00, a period during which night owls have lower levels of brain connectivity. As a result, they are likely to experience daytime sleepiness, lower attention capacity, slower reactions, etc., which can affect their daily performance and overall quality of life.

What can be done to fix this problem? More than anything, these results should encourage more research to understand how the night-bird brain works. With more information, experts will be able to determine how the biological clock can be integrated into the work.

"This mismatch between the biological time and social time of a person – what most of us have experienced in the form of jet lag – is a common problem for night owls who try to follow a day. of normal work, "explained Dr Facer-Childs. from the Center for Human Brain Health at the University of Birmingham.

"If, as a society, we could be more flexible in managing our time, we could do a lot to maximize productivity and minimize health risks," she added.

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