Night owl or a lark? What your sleep-wake setting says about your health

Your natural sleep pattern helps determine how healthy you are. And living against your internal body-clock type of night owl or lark could increase your particular health risks.

Dr Tim Quinnell, from the Sleep Laboratory at Papworth Hospital, Cambridge explains:

"Everything in the body — every reaction, hormone, gene switching on and off — is governed by the internal clock.

"And it’s this clock that makes early types wake when they do, and late types able to carry on into the night."

According to new research, being a morning person, a 'lark', appears to put you at a higher risk of certain cancers, while being a 'night owl' is likely to increase your chance of being obese, suffering from chronic pain and having a poor memory.

But those leading the research in Sydney and Liverpool also suggested that fighting against your natural sleep cycle could be pointless.

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Not only is it determined by your genes, it's also down to your hormone levels, so learning to use it to your advantage could be more beneficial. Though that's easier said than done.

Many people are somewhere in the middle, but if you have two of the same gene that determines your body clock, you'll be an extreme version of the lark or night owl.

Night owls

Night owls get tired later and go to bed late, meaning to get their full quota of sleep, including around four periods of REM sleep, they need to sleep later into the morning, which is tricky if you start work at eight or nine.

These types are more likely to get hungry in the evening and at night and consume more calories after 8pm than lark types.

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This may be the reason night owls are at risk of obesity and related conditions such as sleep apnoea (where your stop breathing in your sleep for up to 10 seconds during sleep).

Night owls were also found to be more likely to suffer from depression, perhaps worsened by lack of sleep, and have higher level of stress hormones (perhaps also worsened by lack of sleep!).

Larks

It's generally considered to be better to be a lark in modern life. Larks get up early, get stuff done and get to lord it over the night owls who may still be staring bleary-eyed at the computer at 10am.

But larks are more likely to feel tired, which is why they're ready to hit the hay earlier in the evening. They're also more likely to struggle when they're older as we all tend to become more lark-like with age, and many find themselves waking extremely early and struggling with lack of sleep.

The genes that cause lark-ism, are also linked to some cancers, so those of us who have two lark genes may be at a higher risk. There's also a theory that antioxidant melatonin, which is made at night, protects against cancer and as larks are up and out so early, they have more exposure to light, lowering their melatonin levels.

What can you do?

Depending on our lifestyles and responsibilities, many of us work against our lark or night owl genes every day. Sometimes it's unavoidable, which is where things like natural light lamps and black out blinds come in. But there are some ways we can improve health by understanding our sleep type and working with it.

For example, if you're a night owl, try to arrange your working hours to start later and if you find you're unproductive in the morning, set aside several hours later in the day or evening when you know you'll be more productive.

Think about what you're eating. As you're likely to get hungry later in the evening, think about having dinner slightly later by ensuring that it's healthy and low in carbs, so that it won't cause you to put on weight or keep you up even later while you digest.

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If you find as a lark you're waking up just too early, Professor Jim Horne from the Sleep Research Centre at Loughborough University recommends having a cup of coffee a 9pm, followed by a quick nap until the caffeine kicks in. Then you'll be awake in the evening but be able to go to sleep at around midnight - and stay asleep until a more realistic time in the morning.

Paying attention to how you sleep, when you're most productive and when you feel more tired can also help you understand and work with your body. Keep an energy diary for several weeks, detailing how alert you feel and how much sleep you get. You can even get apps that track your sleep patterns and a heart monitor will tell you when you're in REM sleep (when you dream).

This will help you work out when best to go to bed and wake and if you have a heavy work-load, when to crack on with it.

Either way, judging by recent surveys of our sleeping habits, we could all do with more anyway, so larks and owls unite - and get to be an hour earlier tonight.