Is waking up late better than rising early? A neurologist breaks it down for us

The night owl chronotype prefers going to bed late and waking up late (Source: Freepik)

To understand this phenomenon in detail, indianexpress.com spoke to Dr Sudhir Kumar, consultant neurologist, Apollo Hospitals, Hyderabad.

Dr Kumar explained chronotypes that determine a person’s sleeping pattern. “Chronotypes are genetically determined and cannot be altered. The night owl chronotype prefers going to bed late and waking up late, while the lark chronotype goes to bed and gets up early,” he said.

In today’s day and age, people have different sleep schedules because of professional commitments or lifestyle patterns. He shared that it is always recommended to go to bed before 12 AM, in tune with the body’s natural circadian rhythm that helps produce melatonin. “But, it has been observed that in a lot of cases, night owls perform better than those who push themselves to wake up early regardless of their genetic disposition.”

This means when people try to operate against their chronotype, they fail to perform well. “It is important to understand your chronotype and align your sleeping habits accordingly to get optimum performance,” said Dr Kumar, who also said, “Before generalising what a study comes out with, it is important to read the fine print and understand the nuances associated with it.”

How long should you ideally be sleeping for?

Talking about optimum sleep adults require, Dr Kumar said, “Anywhere between seven to nine hours is recommended. In cases of less than seven hours or greater than nine hours of sleep, a person is at the risk of incurring diseases like obesity, diabetes, hypertension, heart attacks and in some cases, even cancer. However, the risk is far more in cases where a person is getting less sleep than what is ideal,” said Dr Kumar.