"Night owl" violates the biological clock or is more prone to depression

"Night owl" violates the biological clock or is more prone to depression

"Night owls" violate the biological clock and are more likely to be depressed.

As far as the biological clock is concerned, some people are used to going to bed early and getting up early, while others are "night owls" who go to bed late and wake up late
.

A recent study in the United Kingdom shows that if "night owls" violate their biological clock, they are more likely to be depressed and have low happiness

Previous studies have shown that the human body has 351 genes related to the type of biological clock
.

Researchers from the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom extracted data from more than 450,000 British adults from the British Biomedical Library, and used Mendelian randomization to analyze whether these genes are causally related to seven psychological problems such as severe depression and feelings of happiness.

Mendelian randomization is a widely used experimental design method in the field of epidemiology.
It can avoid the influence of confounding factors by introducing an intermediate variable called an instrumental variable to analyze the causal relationship between exposure factors and outcomes
.

The researchers also used the sleep data of more than 85,000 people in the British biomedical database monitored through wearable devices to assess whether there is a "social jet lag" on working days and rest days
.

"Social jet lag" means that people's sleep cycle based on work and social responsibilities is not synchronized with the body clock

The results showed that the more the study subjects deviated from their biological clock, the more likely they were to fall into depression, anxiety, and lower happiness
.

Researchers believe that this may be due to the prevailing nine-to-five work model in society, which is more conducive to early bed and early risers, and "night owls" are forced to wake up early because they violate their own biological clock to go to work, resulting in emotional impact

This research report was published in the latest issue of the top international psychiatry journal and the British "Molecular Psychiatry"
.

The lead author of the report, Jessica Olocklin, said: "We have also found more strong evidence that people who fall to bed early and wake up early are better able to resist depression and improve happiness

Researchers said that under the new crown epidemic, many places have implemented new flexible working systems.
This study may help more people adopt more suitable working time arrangements based on their own biological clocks
.

(Qiao Ying) (Xinhua News Agency Special Feature)