Genetic reason for morning people and night owls

Can your genes have an affect on whether a person enjoys waking up early or would rather hit the snooze button and go back to sleep?

People that claim themselves to be a morning person tend to find it easier to wake up early in the morning than people that claim they aren't morning people. Scientists have completed research that claims that this is based upon the genetics of individuals. There are over 300 genes that are associated with the way a person sleeps and is why some humans don't like waking up early in the morning.

By complying to our genetic bed time researchers found that people had improved mental health and productivity based on whether or not they went to bed 25 minutes earlier. The APH1A gene is associated with the circadian cycle of people but is mostly commonly known in Alzheimer's patients. This genes involvement in both Alzheimer's and sleep could be the reason why many patients with Alzheimers have trouble sleeping.

Sleep patterns and genes

Research has recently been completed using data from 23andMe along with volunteer participants for the UK Biobank to determine the genetic influence that might play a role in whether someone tends to go to sleep early or later. The benefit of this test is that the participants from England actually wear activity monitors daily in order to track their movement, allowing the research to be derived from a person’s actual movement rather than whether they say they are a morning/night person. The participants’ genomes were looked at closely in an attempt to see what gene variants play a role in a person’s sleep pattern and their chronotype; it was found that those who have the largest number of morning-linked variants did actually fall asleep an average of 25 minutes earlier than the person who had the least amount. Overall, they looked at 351 possible genes variants that could affect a person’s tendency to fall asleep early or late, with most playing roles on brain tissue or in the retina, where we take in light. The researchers are also looking into how this sleep can affect mental health, mainly of those who are night owls.

As a self-proclaimed night owl, this article caught my eye, as I always assumed that my sleep pattern was a result of my relatively poor upkeep of it (which I'm sure still plays a role in it). I am particularly interested in how this can affect mental health, and I wonder whether those who are genetically inclined to go to sleep later are therefore more likely to develop a mental illness just due to the gene variant they possess. This was also my first time hearing about the UK Biobank, and I think this is a great resource for ethical research and data analysis on humans.