Attention Night Owls: How Staying Up Late Can Impact Mental Health
For those who experience depression or anxiety, Stanford researchers have found that the time one goes to sleep plays a part in mental health risk.
In a study of more than 70,000 adults, researchers examined the relationship between bedtime and mental health, comparing a participants’ chronotype (their preferred sleep timing) versus the actual times they go to sleep and wake up.
One would assume that someone who identifies with the chronotype of “night owl” would be happier and healthier if they went to bed later and got up later the next morning. However, the study showed that regardless of which chronotype participants identified with (i.e. “night owl” or “early bird”) those who went to bed later had an elevated risk of poorer mental health.
“What we found was that people who stayed up late, whether they were evening types or morning types, were much more likely to have depression and anxiety,” said the study’s lead researcher, Jamie Zeitzer, PhD, co-director of the Stanford Center for Sleep and Circadian Sciences. “The takeaway of the study was that shifting bedtime earlier, even modestly, may reduce mental health risk.”
Chronotype vs. Sleep Timing
So, what are chronotypes? Generally speaking, chronotypes refer to whether one identifies as a morning or evening person, usually measured by a self-reported questionnaire. Genetics, cultural norms, and lifestyle all play a role in shaping one’s chronotype preference. Most people fall somewhere in the middle, though there are still many who identify strongly as either a “night owl” or “early bird.” Also, chronotype typically changes across the lifespan, tending to shift earlier with age.
Sleep timing, by contrast, is when one actually goes to bed and wakes up every day. This can be influenced by external factors such as work schedules, caregiving responsibilities, or cultural environments. Due to these outside influences, there is often a mismatch between one’s chronotype (the preferred sleep timing) and their actual sleep timing.
“You might be a morning type, but you work nights, so you end up going to bed late. Or you’re an evening type, but you’ve got kids who wake up at 6 a.m. There are lots of times and circumstances where life dictates that you do something against your natural proclivity,” says Dr. Zeitzer.
Dr. Zeitzer initially hypothesized that worse mental health outcomes would appear in people whose actual sleep schedules conflicted with their chronotype preference—i.e., “early birds” staying up late or “night owls” waking up early. But, surprisingly, the data indicated that late sleep timing itself was more consistently associated with poorer mental health outcomes, regardless of chronotype preference.
What Makes Late Nights a More Vulnerable Time
Why might late nights carry added risk, regardless of whether you’re an evening person or a morning person? According to Dr. Zeitzer, several factors may converge to make late-night wakefulness a more vulnerable period.
Dr. Zeitzer explains that when you’re awake during the “biological night”—the period when your body’s internal clock expects you to be asleep—your brain may not function as effectively. The frontal cortex, which helps with rational decision-making, may be less efficient, increasing the chance of repetitive or anxious thought loops. You may find yourself making decisions that you wouldn’t make during the day. This is sometimes referred to as the “Mind After Midnight” effect and it’s made worse by sleep loss.
Additionally, by late evening, you’ve often gone through 16+ hours of experiences, demands, and stressors from the day. That cumulative load can make it harder to manage thoughts or emotions as effectively as earlier in the day. Also, with fewer people awake, social guardrails and support systems are not available, and late-night hours bring more isolation.
Different late-night behaviors may have different effects on mental health. For example, engaging socially with friends might be less harmful than spending those hours doomscrolling on your phone, binge-watching television, or ruminating alone while lying in bed. In other words, how you spend your time during the late-night hours could influence mental health risk.
Taken together, it’s not only brain biology but also social, behavioral, environmental, and cultural factors that may help explain why late nights are associated with higher risk of psychiatric conditions. This doesn’t necessarily mean that going to bed late will cause anxiety or depression, but it does mean that being awake late at night can make you more susceptible.
“If you’re up until two o’clock in the morning and you’re being social, that’s probably not so bad as if you’re up until two o’clock in the morning mindlessly binge-watching a show,” says Dr. Zeitzer. “So, people need to pay attention to what they’re doing in those late hours, because not all behaviors at 2 a.m. are created equal.”
How to Shift to an Earlier Sleep Schedule
The study showed that shifting your sleep schedule even slightly earlier can be beneficial to your mental health. To make your earlier bedtime sustainable, try going to bed only 15 minutes earlier each night until you’ve reached your desired bedtime.
Dr. Zeitzer offers tips on how to make this shift and explains that exposure light can be a powerful tool. Getting bright light just after waking up by going outside and stepping into the sunshine can shift your circadian rhythm earlier. Conversely, reducing light exposure in the evening helps signal the brain that it’s time for sleep.
Second, stress management matters. Don’t wait until the last hour before bed to try to relax. Instead, take small breaks throughout the day to manage stress so that you aren’t bringing the full weight of the day’s stress into the night.
Third, create a repeatable wind-down routine. Since we are creatures of habit when it comes to sleep, our brains learn to associate certain routines with bedtime. Building a consistent sequence of pre-bed steps—washing your face, brushing your teeth, reading a few pages—conditions the brain to recognize when it’s time to rest. If you already have a routine, shift it earlier by 15 minutes each night until you reach your goal bedtime.
Finally, if you truly can’t avoid staying up late due to work or other external factors, be intentional about how you spend those hours. Choose activities that are positive or social, and avoid ones that are isolating, stressful, or anxiety-provoking.
“The question isn’t just how much sleep you’re getting, but also when you’re sleeping, and what you’re doing during the hours of the night you might otherwise be asleep—and how those choices may be affecting your mental health,” says Dr. Zeitzer. “If you want to try going to sleep earlier, get morning light, avoid bright light in the evening, and start developing a consistent wind-down routine. Stick to it, and then gradually shift it earlier—little by little—to help establish a new pattern.”
