Being genetically predisposed to be more active in the morning than the evening may reduce your risk of experiencing symptoms of depression, such as having low energy or struggling to make decisions.
Researchers have than early birds. But it is unclear whether staying up late increases the risk of getting such symptoms or if the symptoms tend to lead people to become evening people.
To find out more, at the Free University in Amsterdam and her colleagues analysed genetic data from more than 14,000 people living in the Netherlands. The participants had an average age of 43 and 63 per cent were female. In addition to providing genetic data, participants took part in surveys in which they self-reported details of their lifestyle and how strongly they experienced 14 potential symptoms of depression, such as 鈥淚 do not have much energy鈥� and 鈥淚 have trouble making decisions鈥�. None of the participants had been clinically diagnosed with depression.
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The researchers looked for about 350 genetic variants in the participants鈥� genomes that have been previously linked to how active people feel in the morning compared with the evening and calculated a corresponding 鈥渕orningness鈥� score for each person. They found that people more likely to be morning people, according to their genetics, were less likely to have trouble making decisions, to feel worthless or have feelings of low energy.
鈥淭his suggests that having higher morningness really does lower your risk of depressive symptoms because the link can鈥檛 happen in reverse 鈥� having depressive symptoms can鈥檛 change the genetic variants you have,鈥� says Landvreugd.
However, other environmental factors, such as drinking or smoking habits, could also account for the link, by disrupting sleep and altering people鈥檚 brain chemistry, says Landvreugd.
Understanding that there is a link between being a night owl and experiencing depression symptoms, regardless of whether it is driven by genes or environmental factors, could help people deal with their negative feelings, says Landvreugd. 鈥淚f morningness reduces your risk of depressive symptoms, finding ways to shift your activity patterns could help treat or prevent them,鈥� she says.
Further work is needed to explore how the findings apply to people of all ancestries, says Landvreugd, because the participants of the study were mainly of European ancestry.
鈥淭hese findings align with other research showing the connection between circadian rhythms and mental health,鈥� says at the University of Edinburgh, UK. They suggest that modifying people鈥檚 daily rhythms through light therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy could be used as a treatment for many mental health conditions, she says.
medRxiv
