“You Are Not Lazy If You Are Waking Up At Noon:” Doctor Destigmatizes Waking Up Late

Waking up early doesn't necessarily make you healthier, happier, and more productive. Yes, it works for many people but what's true for one can be very wrong for the other.

A couple of days ago, Syed Moin Hassan, M.D., turned to Twitter to destigmatize night owls. The health professional made a comprehensive thread, explaining that those who deviate from the regular circadian rhythm are perfectly fine. Dr. Hassan recalled his personal experience with patients, shared what the medical world knows about the sleep-wake cycle, and his post immediately went viral. With over 140K likes and 30K retweets, let's hope it'll put to rest all of the myths surrounding late-sleepers once and for all.

More info: Twitter

However, if waking up late isn't a sign that something's wrong, what is? Well, according to one study, it's irregularity. When researchers documented the sleep of 61 students over 30 days and correlated the results with the students' grades, they found that students who got regular sleep--that is, who went to bed and woke up more or less the same time every day--did better in school than those who slept irregular hours.

At first, the researchers expected to find that the irregular sleepers who stayed up till all hours were sleeping less than their regular-sleeping counterparts. However, it wasn't the case. Both groups were sleeping about the same number of hours in total (irregular sleepers were napping more). Their grades still suffered, though, proving that a nap is no replacement for a good night's sleep.

Moreover, irregular sleep can be a symptom of depression, and depression can definitely have a toll on one's academic performance.
The researchers added that more study is needed to better understand these factors. But if you're a late riser, you certainly don't need to beat yourself up about it. Just focus on going to bed and getting up at roughly the same hours instead.