Does having a night owl chronotype help night shift workers sleep better? New research from the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science finds that having the genetics of a night owl protects night shift workers against sleep loss. Watch the video below to find out more!
The ERC CHRONO team worked on this study co-led by Dr Evelina Akimova alongside Dr. Riley Taiji and Professor Melinda Mills, Director of Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science, along with Dr Xuejie Ding.
They found that night work was associated with significant sleep penalties, the largest of which were observed for individuals who always work nights. According to the study, ‘This is given the fact that sleep plays an essential role for physical and mental health.’
Professor Mills adds, ‘There are health implications for night shift workers, but our study shows that these vary between individuals dependent on their chronotype, and that should be considered when designing interventions.’
This study was conducted in collaboration with the University of Groningen and University Medical Centre Groningen, and is part of the European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant CHRONO, led by Professor Melinda Mills.
Read the paper here and full news story here
This study was funded the European Research Council Advanced Grant CHRONO (835079) for frontier high-risk high-gain research and the Leverhulme Trust (RC-2018-003) Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science.
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