Night Owls Face Higher Heart Disease Risk in Later Life

Adults in their middle years and beyond who stay up late and get most active in the evenings face higher risks of heart problems, including heart attacks and strokes. Researchers looked at data from more than 300,000 people in the UK, all around 57 years old on average, and found these evening types had poorer heart health measures and faced added dangers as they aged. The pattern held stronger for women, and much of it came down to everyday choices like smoking more and getting less sleep.

Background

People fall into different groups based on when they feel most awake and ready to sleep. Some call themselves definite morning people, who wake early, hit their energy peak in the morning, and head to bed by 9 p.m. or so. Others are definite evening people, or night owls, who stay up until 2 a.m. or later and ramp up later in the day. Most folks land in between, without a strong lean one way or the other.

In this work, about 8 percent of the adults said they were definite evening types. Around 24 percent picked definite morning, and the rest were intermediate. The team pulled records from a big UK health database that tracks people over time. They checked heart health using a standard list of eight key areas: things you do like eat well, move enough, sleep right, and avoid nicotine, plus body measures like blood pressure, weight, blood sugar, and blood fats.

Over about 14 years, the researchers watched for heart attacks and strokes. Evening types scored lower on the overall heart health check. Morning types did a bit better than the middle group. Women evening types showed the biggest gaps in scores compared to men.

Key Details

Evening people had a 79 percent higher chance of landing in the poor category for overall heart health compared to those in the middle group. They also faced a 16 percent higher risk of heart attack or stroke during the follow-up time. Morning people had just a 5 percent lower chance of poor scores than intermediates.

Lifestyle Factors at Play

A big chunk of the extra risk—about 75 percent—came from habits and body measures in that eight-point check. Smoking stood out the most, explaining 34 percent of the link. Short sleep covered 14 percent. High blood sugar took 12 percent, and both extra body weight and weaker diets each accounted for about 11 percent.

Night owls often deal with a mismatch between their body clock and the day's light cycle. Their internal rhythm runs late, clashing with standard schedules. This can lead to skipping good meals, pulling all-nighters now and then, or reaching for cigarettes more often.

"Evening people often experience circadian misalignment, meaning their internal body clock may not match the natural day-to-night light cycle or their typical daily schedules," said Sina Kianersi, the lead researcher and a fellow in sleep and circadian disorders at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston. "Evening people may be more likely to have behaviors that can affect cardiovascular health, such as poorer diet quality, smoking and inadequate or irregular sleep."

Women bore more of the brunt in heart health scores—96 percent higher odds of poor marks versus 67 percent for men. But the heart attack and stroke risks did not differ as much by sex.

What This Means

The results point to real steps people can take, no matter their natural rhythm. Quitting smoking could cut a large slice of the risk right away. Aiming for steady seven to nine hours of sleep each night helps too. Better food choices, like more fruits, veggies, and whole grains, along with regular walks or workouts, fill in other gaps.

Evening types do not start from a lost spot. Their body clocks make healthy habits tougher to stick with, but changes in daily routines can shift the odds. Doctors might start asking patients about sleep and activity timing during checkups, right alongside blood pressure readings.

For the millions who prefer late nights, this adds one more reason to build in buffers. Shift workers or parents up with young kids might see echoes here, though the study focused on natural preferences, not forced late hours. Public health pushes already stress these basics—eat right, move, sleep, no smoke—but now they carry extra weight for late stayers-up.

Researchers plan to dig deeper into why women face steeper drops in scores. They also want to track younger adults to see if patterns hold early on. In the meantime, the message lands clear: align what you can with what keeps the heart steady over decades.