Notice to night owls: stay up after midnight can have harmful consequences for health. A study published last spring in the journal Frontiers in Network Physiology reveals that this habit can affect the functioning of the brain in particular.
The researchers explain here that the mind can be disturbed the next day if you do not fall asleep before midnight. According to their findings, humans who stay up late might view the world negatively or worse, engage in impulsive behaviors. Examples: alcohol or drug use, addiction to gambling.
The body also naturally produces more dopamine at night, which can alter the reward and motivation system and increase the likelihood of engaging in risky behavior. Staying awake past midnight also impacts our food choices. After dark, we crave more carbohydrates, fats, and processed foods, and we often ingest more calories than necessary. So, is this habit definitely to be avoided?
Should you avoid going to bed after midnight?
“It is both true and false. That is to say, what matters most is respect your biological clock, which is very genetically coded, and which makes some people more evening or morning. You have to respect your rhythms so as not to cause stress on your body.” tempers Dr. Pierre-Alexis Geoffroy psychiatrist. Which means that if you’re used to going to bed after midnight and waking up refreshed, you don’t need to force yourself to go to bed before. On the other hand, if you feel exhausted from 10 p.m., there is no need to fight against sleep. It all really depends on your own biological clock. In short: there is no ideal bedtime.
“If we don’t listen to our own sleep-wake rhythm, and if we don’t respect it, or if we don’t sleep enough compared to what our body requires, we end up in sleep deprivation, with diurnal consequences such as drowsiness, accidents, and overall poor functioning of the organism. Sleeping well is a question of the quality of sleep and the quantity of hours specific to each person”adds the psychiatrist.
In any case, it should be remembered that sleep, just like diet and physical activity, remains one of the pillars of health, and that any sleep disorder should neither be neglected nor taken to the slight. A sleep doctor may be able to solve all your difficulties in this area. You should never hesitate to consult one as soon as nocturnal disturbances appear.
Sources:
- The Mind After Midnight: Nocturnal Wakefulness, Behavioral Dysregulation, and Psychopathology, Frontiers in Network Physiology, March 2022.
- Interview with Dr Pierre-Alexis Geoffroy, psychiatrist at APHP and Groupe Hospitalier Universitaire Paris.
