{"id":7165,"date":"2026-03-29T11:35:37","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T11:35:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/?p=7165"},"modified":"2026-03-29T11:54:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T11:54:56","slug":"not-an-early-morning-person-youre-more-at-risk-of-developing-bipolar-finds-new-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/?p=7165","title":{"rendered":"Not an early morning person? You’re more at risk of developing bipolar, finds new study"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By CIARAN FOREMAN, REPORTER<\/a><\/p>\n

Published:<\/span>

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People who stay up later at night may be more likely to have traits of bipolar, a new study has found.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Researchers found that people with the\u00a0evening chronotype – commonly referred to as night owls – found it harder to manage their emotions and displayed more bipolar-like behaviours.<\/span><\/p>\n

Roughly one in three British adults class themselves as night owls, preferring to work later at night because that is when their energy and creativity levels peak.<\/span><\/p>\n

The new study of 2,031 adults in Italy<\/a> found that 22.8 per cent considered themselves as night owls, while 22.2 per cent preferred to be up in the morning – known as early birds – and 55 per cent did not state a preference.<\/p>\n

From their survey, it was uncovered that the night owls reported significantly higher traits of depression<\/a>, anxiety, irritability and displayed more unpredictable moods.<\/p>\n

They also showed higher levels rates of\u00a0emotional dysregulation – the term for a person’s ability to handle the intensity of their emotions – compared to early birds and those who did not have a preferred time.<\/p>\n

Lead author G. Pontoni said:\u00a0<\/span>‘Our findings strongly support a link between the evening chronotype and affective temperaments <\/span>associated with bipolar vulnerability.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

‘Individuals with later sleep-wake rhythms are more likely to\u00a0experience emotional dysregulation and subthreshold bipolar features, even in the general population.’<\/p>\n

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Night owls\u00a0may be more likely to have traits of bipolar, a new study has found<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The study also found that night owls scored higher on questionnaires linked to bipolar-like symptoms, meaning they show more signs associated with the disorder than the other surveyed.<\/p>\n

Smoking was also linked to higher bipolar-like traits, while good sleep quality appeared to act as a protective factor, being associated with lower levels of these tendencies.<\/p>\n

Professor Andrea Fiorillo, President of the European Psychiatric Association, commented: ‘These results underline the relevance of chronotype when assessing mood symptoms and emotion regulation difficulties.<\/p>\n

Considering sleep\u2013wake preferences alongside standard clinical evaluation may help clinicians better characterise risk and tailor follow-up where appropriate.’<\/p>\n

Night owls often have to set numerous alarms in the morning to wake themselves up, while early risers often spring out of bed – sometimes even without the need for an alarm.<\/p>\n

Many early risers also go to the gym before work in the morning, and feel more productive while the sun is coming up.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, night owls are happy to have a cup of coffee at night or start tasks late in the evening when most people are typically winding down and getting into bed.<\/p>\n

A study conducted in 2024 by\u00a0from Imperial College London said that night owls displayed ‘superior cognitive function’.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well-known night owls are often cited to include figures such as Winston Churchill, Barack Obama and Robbie Williams.<\/p>\n

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WHAT IS BIPOLAR DISORDER?<\/a><\/h3>\n
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Bipolar disorder is a brain disorder which causes unusual and often sudden changes in mood and energy levels.<\/p>\n

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Moods of those with bipolar disorder range from periods of extreme elation and energy (known as a manic episode) to periods of extreme somberness and lack of energy (known as a depressive episode).<\/p>\n

HOW IS IT DIAGNOSED?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

According to the International Bipolar Foundation, sufferers are diagnosed with rapid cycling if they have four or more manic, hypomanic, or depressive episodes in any 12-month period.<\/p>\n

This severe form of the condition occurs in around 10 to 20 percent of all people with bipolar disorder.<\/p>\n

WHAT CAUSES IT?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Currently it is unknown what is the cause of bipolar disorder, which affects around 5.7 million US adults aged 18 or older.<\/p>\n

Scientists say genetics could play a role or that those with a a family history of bipolar disorder are more likely to have it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\nNot an early morning person? You’re more at risk of developing bipolar, finds new study<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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  By CIARAN FOREMAN, REPORTER Published: 06:35 EDT, 29 March 2026 | Updated: 06:40 EDT, 29 March 2026   People who stay up later at night may be more likely to have traits of bipolar, a new study has found.\u00a0 Researchers found that people with the\u00a0evening chronotype – commonly referred to as night owls –<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7166,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[783,987],"tags":[1349,1353,1352,1350,1351],"class_list":{"0":"post-7165","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-editors-picks","8":"category-healthy-living","9":"tag-bipolar-disorder","10":"tag-chronotype","11":"tag-mental-health","12":"tag-night-owls","13":"tag-sleep-patterns"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7165"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7168,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7165\/revisions\/7168"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}