Benjamin Franklin is quoted to have said: ” Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” The author and wit James Thurber amended it to, “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and dead.” Who do we believe?
I am a morning person. I love getting up early and having a cup of coffee, doing a quick workout, writing a bit and getting in some Internet shopping in peace and quiet before the chaos erupts in our house. The chaos meaning when our three boys awaken.
So of course I am biased to Benjamin Franklin’s quote. And I will use this quote proudly when my earliness is beneficial — like when my family complained this past summer when we walked into Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon 20 minutes before the park opened, because I like arriving at theme parks early to beat the crowds. Just as they were all complaining “what are we going to do for 20 minutes,” a lifeguard walked over to our 5-year-old and asked him if he wanted to be the Big Kahuna.
[Read: How and Why to Become a Morning Person .]
What is the Big Kahuna? (We had no idea.) Each day a lifeguard picks a young person who is early to the park to be the Big Kahuna. The duties of the Big Kahuna are to open the park on the walkie talkie, meet all the lifeguards, get a quick private tour of the park, a medal (that our son, by the way, wore proudly all day long), and our own private roped-off section overlooking the wave pool with lounge chairs and towels. We were settled in and feeling like the royalty of the park all prior to the “rope drop.”
I decided to look into the science behind night owls vs. early birds to put an end to this important debate. I tried to do this as objectively as possible — which was tough for me because I use Benjamin Franklin’s quote often when it is to my benefit.
Here is a very brief summary of what I found:
Adolescents who go to bed early and wake up early are healthier than those who go to bed late and wake up late — even if they get the same amount of sleep. Researchers found that kids who went to bed early and rose early exercised more, spent less time in front of a screen and were less likely to be overweight or obese compared to their night owl and late-rising friends. One point for Ben Franklin and me.
[Read: How to Sleep Well in College — Even With Night Owl Roommates .]
Another study examined the bedtimes and wake times of men who’d had a heart attack. Not surprisingly, they found that the less the men slept, the more cups of coffee they drank during the day. The death rates, however, of the early-to-bed, early-to-rise men did not differ from the night owls. No points for Franklin, Thurber or me.
Yet another study investigated the importance of total sleep time compared to the timing of sleep and wakefulness for academic performance in college students. Compared to those with the lowest academic performance, students with the highest performance had earlier bedtimes and wake times. Another point for Franklin and me.
Finally, another study found that night owls are wealthier than early birds. No differences, however, were found between the early birds and night owls on health and wisdom. They did find that spending 12 or more hours in bed was not good for your health. One point for James for night owls being wiser.
The research I reviewed favors early birds (at least by a little bit), but it’s impossible to say for sure. All these studies had different cut-offs for what time going to bed was considered early and what time getting up was considered early.
[Read: The Trouble With Sleep Texting.]
In short, controversy remains about whether early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise (the Ben Franklin hypothesis), or healthy, wealthy and dead (the James Thurber hypothesis). There’s little scientific evidence to show that the time at which you get out of bed really makes a difference when it comes to overall health (or wealth or wiseness for that matter). Even if there is little scientific evidence to support that early birds are healthier, wealthier and wiser than night owls, at least in our house I know that the early bird gets the Big Kahuna. What more do you want?
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Night Owls vs. Early Birds — Who is Healthier, Wealthier and Wiser? originally appeared on usnews.com
