Why earlybirds are slim and happy

Early to bed and early to rise makes you healthy, happy and slim.

Early to bed and early to rise makes you healthy, happy and slim.

Published Feb 12, 2016

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London - Early to bed and early to rise makes you healthy, happy and slim.

A study has found that morning people tend to be thinner than night owls.

Early risers are also less prone to becoming depressed and less likely to suffer from insomnia, say researchers.

Almost 90 000 people were asked whether they were naturally a morning or a night person and had their DNA analysed. This revealed 15 genes that were linked to a person being a “lark” or an “owl”.

A preference for mornings rose with age, with more than twice as many of over-60s describing themselves as morning types than under-30s.

Women were more likely to enjoy mornings than men, the journal Nature Communications reports. The researchers, from the California-based genetic testing company 23andMe, aren’t sure why a person’s body clock might be so strongly linked to health.

But it might to be as simple as too many late nights taking their toll on evening types.

Researcher David Hinds said: “We like to think of our preferences and behaviour as core to who we are and it’s interesting to see how our biology influences these things.”

Daily Mail

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