Night owls' habits linked to worse heart health
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- Reviewed by Robert H. Shmerling, MD, Senior Faculty Editor, Harvard Health Publishing; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing
People who stay up late may miss out on sleep and tend to have other habits that jeopardize their heart health, according to a study in the January 2026 issue of the Journal of the American Heart Association.
Researchers examined data from 300,000 adults to see how their wake and sleep timing patterns affected their heart health. About 8% described themselves as definitively "evening people," reporting bedtimes as late as 2 a.m. About 24% said they were distinctly "morning people"; some hit the sack as early as 9 p.m. The 67% in the middle were classed as "intermediate."
Researchers scored each group using the American Heart Association's Life's Essential 8 metric, which assesses habits and factors linked to heart health. Compared to the intermediate group, evening people had a 79% higher prevalence of poor heart health scores - and a 16% higher risk of a first heart attack or stroke over a median follow-up period of nearly 14 years. (Morning people had a 5% lower prevalence of a poor score.) But night owls have options to improve their heart health by adopting healthier habits, such as increasing sleep time, exercising more, and stopping smoking.
Image: © Drazen Zigic/Getty Images
About the Author
Julie Corliss, Executive Editor, Harvard Heart Letter
About the Reviewer
Robert H. Shmerling, MD, Senior Faculty Editor, Harvard Health Publishing; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing
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