Why Are Night Owls Prone To Depression?

Night owls — people who stay up late — have been shown to have an increased risk of depression.

And now a new study says why that might be.

Dusk dwellers tend to be less mindful — that is, less engaged in the present moment, researchers found.

That, along with poor sleep quality and higher alcohol consumption, are likely explanations for their increased depression risk, researchers reported in the journal PLOS One.

“Importantly, we considered the different facets of mindfulness as factors,” concluded the team led by senior researcher Simon Evans, a lecturer in neuroscience of the University of Surrey in the U.K.

“Results pointed specifically to a protective role of the ‘acting with awareness’ facet,” in which people engage fully in the present moment and carry out actions with deliberate attention rather than on autopilot, researchers wrote.

For the study, researchers surveyed nearly 550 university students using an online questionnaire. Students reported information on their sleep patterns, mindfulness, alcohol use and levels of depression and anxiety.

The responses revealed that night owls were indeed more likely to report symptoms of depression compared to average sleepers, researchers report.

Night owls also had worse sleep quality than average sleepers or morning birds, and they tended to consume more alcohol. These results jibe with earlier studies linking bad sleep and alcohol to depression, researchers noted.

But this study also explored the potential role of mindfulness in depression risk among the late-night crowd, and found that it was a contributing factor.

“Morning types present with higher ‘acting with awareness’ because of their tendency to sleep better and therefore have a lower risk of fatigue, inattention and mind wandering during the day,” the research team wrote

“On the other hand, evening chronotypes usually have poorer sleep quality, causing them to be more prone to daytime sleepiness and thus less awareness of the present moment.”

The results indicate that people who stay up late might be able to avoid depression by practicing mindfulness, cutting back on alcohol and improving their sleep hygiene.

“Given the growing popularity of mindfulness training for improving mental health, the current results indicate that enhancing the ‘acting with awareness’ facet of mindfulness should be prioritized in the design of mindfulness intervention,” researchers concluded.

More information

Stanford Medicine has more on night owl behavior and mental health.

SOURCES: PLOS One, study and news release, March 19, 2025

Source: HealthDay