The prolongation of the night is not a factor that puts those who do not sleep at night at risk of dying at a younger age than those who go to bed without delay and wake up early, unless night lovers spend their evenings smoking and drinking alcohol, according to a study published on Friday.
The study, based on data about half a million residents of the United Kingdom, between the ages of 38 and 73, previously concluded in 2018 that those who sleep late are 10 percent more likely to die from various causes than those who prefer to go to bed early, during a period that extended Six and a half years, reports Al-Rai daily.
However, this British study, which was the first on the risk of death, did not take into account several factors, including alcohol, that could be behind these early deaths.
A number of researchers wanted to delve deeper into this aspect, so they carried out a study that was reviewed by other specialists and published by the specialized “Chrono Biology International” magazine.
The researchers followed up about 24,000 same-sex twins in Finland. They were asked in 1981 whether they prefer a daytime or nocturnal lifestyle. A third of them described themselves as being inclined to night, and 10 percent said they were completely nocturnal, while the rest classified themselves as daytime.
It was noted that those who like to stay up late are mostly younger, but they also drink alcohol and smoke more than others.
When the researchers studied the sample data in 2018, more than 8,700 twins had died.
The researchers found that those who were completely nocturnal during these 37 years were at risk of dying from various causes by 9 percent more than the others.
The scientists concluded that this difference was “mainly due to tobacco and alcohol,” as those who stayed up late for those who did not smoke and drank little alcohol were not at greater risk of early death than those who liked to get up early.
And the lead author of the study, Christer Hublin, of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, considered that “all-nighters should reconsider their consumption of alcohol and tobacco, if they are one of their consumers.”
He explained to Agence France-Presse that the exact time individuals sleep (or their chronotype) has “little or no” effect on their mortality rate.
Jevan Fernando, a researcher of the chronological pattern at the University of Cambridge, believed that the results of this study are solid, but he noticed some gaps in it, including that it is not possible to reliably classify the individuals themselves in this or that category because it does not provide “objective data.” He blamed the study for not including products other than alcohol and tobacco.
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