
No, Night Owls Aren’t Doomed to Die Early - brandonhall
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/23/smarter-living/no-night-owls-arent-doomed-to-die-early.html
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rzzzt
This is about a study published last year in April in Chronobiology
International:
[https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07420528.2018.1...](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07420528.2018.1454458)

News sites have picked it up and produced headlines on the same study with the
complete opposite sentiment: [https://news.sky.com/story/nocturnal-night-owls-
risk-early-d...](https://news.sky.com/story/nocturnal-night-owls-risk-early-
death-study-finds-11327054)

My understanding is from the article that night owls are not doomed to die
early in the literal sense, but not being able to work, eat and exercise in
the "proper time" still makes them susceptible to diabetes, neurological,
respiratory and cardiovascular problems, etc.

So yeah, still doomed.

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thrav
The book, “Why We Sleep” covers this and many other sleep topics at length and
in far more depth. It’s fascinating.

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dorchadas
It truly is fascinating. I'd recommend anyone to read this, as he also talks
about the evolutionary benefits of morning larks versus night owls. It was,
perhaps, the most influential book I read last year.

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balfirevic
How did it influence you? What are the changes it prompted you to make?

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dorchadas
I've started turning 'Do Not Disturb' mode on my phone much earlier, and
plugging it into charge (facedown) at the same time. Even with a blue light
filter, there was still a lot of exposure that would keep me awake. I try (and
often fail, admittedly) to shut off my computer earlier too, but I use f.lux
which helps mitigate it some.

I also have changed out my light bulbs and use a lamp at night that doesn't
emit as much blue light; I'm even considering getting some of the color
changing ones and programming them to change for me throughout the day (as
well as come on and turn off at a set time, which could be great).

On top of all that, I try to follow a consistent schedule. It's difficult, but
if I've been on it a few days, I notice it when I'm off and am quite
miserable.

I still could do more, especially wearing a sleep mask. I've noticed that when
I sleep in windowless rooms, I sleep a lot better; the same is true with cool
rooms (unfortunately, one of my roommates is always cold and refuses to
believe we sleep better cool so our house rarely gets below 72 during the
summer, and only that cool at night because I turn it down after he goes to
sleep).

But, really, mitigating blue light and understanding the importance of sleep
are the two main things it's taught me.

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balfirevic
Thanks for the response. I just have one remark:

> one of my roommates is always cold and refuses to believe we sleep better
> cool

I don't think this is universal, although it is often stated as such. I too
sleep best when the room is between 24 and 25 degrees Celsius (during the
winter, too).

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ulisesrmzroche
You know, back in Mexico, we had school in two shifts, rite? It was a morning
shift & afternoon shift. It was a way to fix the problem of "too many students
and not enough time".

I always took the afternoons. It was great. Life made sense. I wonder if we
can ever pressure the bosses to make overlapping shifts? Or is that even
possible? A 6-hour workday sounds like an opium dream to me at this point in
our timeline.

~~~
dmix
We don't have set hours at our office and about half the people come in early
around 8-10am and the other half come in around 1pm. There's enough overlap
for afternoon meetings and plenty of time when the office is quieter because
half as many people are there.

~~~
fujipadam
Can you please clarify? Is it like that in your company or is it the case with
all of your country?

~~~
dmix
My company...

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jedberg
> It wasn’t the conclusion of the study, or its researchers. But in the
> bombastic world of science reporting, it didn’t really matter.

This right here is the crux of the whole thing. Science reporting biases
towards clicks and shares instead of accuracy. There is still some good
science reporting out there, but it doesn't sell like the sensational
headlines.

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herf
Those who are forced to wake up too early, die early.

Those who sleep enough have no extra risk.

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purerandomness
Alternative hypothsis: People who stay up late have a higher probability of
going out, enjoy more occasional drinks, are more probable to smoking or take
recreational drugs and have more sexual partners and generally enjoy more
riskier lifestyle choices, all of which contributes to the statistics showing
a shorter life expectation.

~~~
S_A_P
Which may also lead to a greater since of community and reduced loneliness
which contributes to longer life.

~~~
cowsandmilk
Because no one ever found a sense of community from their morning bike ride or
running group or being monogamous and having a family... The idea that sexual
promiscuity and doing drugs and drinking to lower social inhibition are what
creates a sense of community is pretty misguided.

~~~
S_A_P
Not what Im advocating. just providing a counterpoint to the argument that the
only outcome to staying up late is that you are making choices that shorten
life. Staying out late certainly can contribute to the OPs theory, but that
isn't the only outcome. Reduction of stress, finding a community/partner/etc
is definitely something that hanging out late can provide. the time of day you
feel most awake doesn't mean your default is self destruction.

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dontbenebby
I suspect the issue isn't the time you wake up, it's if you're artificially
waking up.

(Ex: if you stay up late on weekends then struggle on Monday due to lack of
sleep vs simply choosing to wake at 10am daily because you have a flexible
work schedule and sometimes like to go to events that are in the evening.)

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Simulacra
I don't think it's when you sleep, but how much sleep you get on a consistent
basis.

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thatoneuser
I really dislike this kind of clickbait. I've never heard anything of owls
dying and now I have this condescending headline talking down to me.

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_they
"...warned against drawing conclusions based on simple correlation."

Can we just do this, in general?

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m3kw9
Yeah like sugar vs fat studies, this is profound, not.

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accnumnplus1
So the choice is enjoy life or drag it out when you're falling apart.

