Whether you are a night owl or an early bird, do not bother fighting the impulse because it is probably in your genes, a study said on Tuesday.
Scientists have long known that all plants and animals — from lowly phytoplankton to homo sapiens — have internal biological clocks attuned to a 24-hour cycle.
However, within this so-called circadian rhythm, individuals of some species, including ours, may have a natural preference for day or night.
Previous research had singled out genes with an unspecified influence on these rhythms.
However, very little was known about which parts of our genetic code determine whether you are more likely to be a creature of the night or a morning lark.
A research team led by David Hinds of California-based biotechnology company 23andMe trawled the genomes — the unique genetic blueprint of an organism — of 89,283 people for clues.
The team compared the findings with responses to a Web survey in which the same individuals were asked to indicate whether they preferred mornings or evenings.
The study, published in Nature Communications, found a clear link between more than a dozen gene variants, and healthy individuals who said they were at their best in the morning.
Early risers were significantly less likely to have insomnia or need more than eight hours of shut-eye per night. They were also less prone to depression than individuals — about 56 percent of respondents — who described themselves as night owls.
The researchers also found that, after taking into account the effect of age and sex, morning persons are likely to have lower — and thus generally more healthy — body mass index, a measure of the ratio between height and weight.
None of these correlation necessarily imply a cause-and-effect relationship, the researchers said.
Nor did the team find genetic links with sleep disorders, such as insomnia, apnea or sweating while slumbering.
The mechanism controlling circadian rhythms is found in neurons located in a part of the brain called the suprachiasmatic nuclei, in the hypothalamus.
The same process is involved in jetlag, which is the feeling of being out of phase — too sleepy or wide awake — with a given time cycle.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS