Nov 12th 2010 By Jeremy Taylor

Smart People Stay Up Late and Sleep Late

Our happy hour fact to amaze your drinking buddies with. .

There is evidence to suggest that those with high I.Q.s stay up later and sleep later.

Researchers from the London School of Economics have found that people with high I.Q.s are more likely to be night owls, whereas folks with lower I.Q.s are more likely to wake up early and function their best during the day. Other studies have found a link between "eveningness" and getting good grades in school.

However, all is not well with those who burn the midnight oil. People who are disposed to staying up late are less reliable and more likely to suffer from depression and various addictions when compared to early risers.

So maybe the old adage should just be early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy.

Tags: Intelligence - iq - London School of Economics - LondonSchoolOfEconomics - nocturnal - Sleeping Late - SleepingLate - SleepingLight

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Friday 12 November

By spikennanners

Lowest Rank

yes. also, people with jobs must get up early. wow.

Saturday 13 November

By Kilan

Highest Rank

I hate to stretch to limits of your imagination, but in fact a lot of jobs and technologies exist in the world that allow people to work at all hours of the night and day. Also, more and more young entrepreneurs and educated workers of younger generations are beginning to resist the traditional 9 to 5 workday structure, because of its obvious limitations and disadvantages. In fact, new trends are shifting towards more flexible and customizable work schedules, particularly for those with the education and motivation needed to create leverage and implement change.

Saturday 13 November

By Kilan

Highest Rank

Of course, it takes many years to get to the point where one will have the flexibility to choose their own job, and until then we are all forced to adhere to the early morning structure of our society. Research has already shown that forcing our children to attend school so early in the morning is destructive and counter-productive for virtually of our youth, and yet we continue to enforce this schedule because it is convenient for the majority of adults in our society. One could also argue that we are doing a grave disservice to our society be ensuring that some of the most intelligent and creative minds among us are continuously exhausted, depressed and drug-addicted because we refuse to offer more flexibility. Coincidentally, the same is often true in the reverse – if we force morning people to work night shifts for years at a time they often will never fully adjust and frequently become ill and depressed.

Saturday 13 November

By Ken

Lowest Rank

SMART PEOPLE STAY UP LATE AND SLEEP LATE? BWAAA HA HA HA HA, must be written by a fat a-- wife.

Sunday 14 November

By BTDT

Lowest Rank

I've always been early to bad and early to rise.
Yet here I stand, sickly poor and stupid.
(Never discount the possibility that night owls are kept awake by guilt.)

Sunday 14 November

By Terry Barnes

Lowest Ranked

How true you are

Monday 15 November

By Jeff

Highest Rank

People with high IQs get out of working crap jobs or paying education businesses that masquerade as "schools". This way we don't have to rise with the sun to punch a clock or stroke a professor's ego. We find ways to create wealth to get what we want and that allows us to create our own schedules.

Tuesday 16 November

By Sig

Lowest Rank

This may very well be, but the quote is not complete in the end of the article. It should be: "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise". - B. Franklin

Cheers

Thursday 18 November

By poblanovich

Highest Rank

the quote is truncated for a reason, get it? according to this evidence, going to bed and rising early do not necessarily make one wise and wealthy

Thursday 18 November

By Sara

Neutral

What are you talking about? Plenty of people work nights and business owners make their own hours. I start work at noon, but sometimes work until 9 or 10. Not to mention with a global economy, different people work at different times to communicate with those on the other side of the globe. Traders in particular are known for trading late into the night during trading times in London. Auditors do the same.

Tuesday 23 November

By tom

Neutral

I simply can't switch off when I go to bed therefore I cannot function in the day fully unless I sleep into the afternoon!

Saturday 13 November

By Andrea

Highest Rank

Yeah, probably the depression and addiction come from being tired during the days because even though we're night owls, we still have to get up for work. I could see someone getting hooked on uppers or just really feel down from being so tired all the time.

I don't do any drugs but caffeine, but it really is a drag to always be tired. I'm just not made for mornings.

Posted at 2 AM so you know it's from experience!

Sunday 14 November

By SacWriterEditor

Highest Rank

One of my bosses thought I was lazy because he was at his desk at the crack of dawn, while I staggered in at 8:30 with my eyes barely open. Then we had to work overtime. By 6 PM, he was exhausted, I was just hitting my stride. By 10 PM, I sent him home because he was falling asleep on his desk, I was just getting my second wind. When he came in the next morning, there was a pile of stuff on his desk that hadn't been there when he left. I shrugged it off, I'd only been there till 2 AM, no big deal, didn't usually fall asleep till 2 anyway. He did the math and realized I'd worked an 18 hour day and made it to work on time the next morning no worse for the wear, on 4 hours sleep. And apparently did it on 4 hours sleep every day. He apologized; he'd seen with his own eyes that making me adhere to a standard work schedule meant that they were paying for my least productive hours. I wasn't a slacker for barely making it to work on time -- I was just a night owl in a day world.

Friday 19 November

By cafebeege

Neutral

I empathize with you Andrea. I did that many years in the corporate world. Lived on caffeine (and cigarettes at that time). It was grueling, though I was successful. Now retired. But as a woman, learned many years after the fact I was battling chronic, often severe anemia. So, wouldn't hurt for you to have that checked once a year. They are finally learning it is more common in women than was ever known before. If chronic and severe enough, can do permenant damage to the body. BTW, cigarettes increase cortisol production in the body, which "nightowls" naturally have a higher level of at night, morning people have naturally higher level in the morning. That is really the only difference I suspect between us. Since I do have 6 doctors in my family, that did occur to me reading exoticdoc's comments.....they must be somewhat smart to get through med school and most of them do seem to function better in the morning bless their little hearts...:o)

Sunday 14 November

By Djibril Ndiaye

Lowest Rank

VERY INTERESTING WEB-SITE,I get many informations...I agree with the title, one friend , a very intelligent man,who can remind more than hundred call number,are used to get out at sleeping time...one night,with 2 boys, we decide to go behind him, he guide us in a bordel...
Just to say that intelligent people are very questing mind, complicated...

Saturday 13 November

By lmhisf

Highest Rank

YAY!! Finally, after 40 grueling, depressing years of struggling to adapt to the 9 to 5 working world the truth comes out. I only wish it had been much, much sooner.

Saturday 13 November

By gene

Lowest Rank

And just who paid for this stupid study? Some stupid night owl?

Saturday 13 November

By Kilan

Highest Rank

You mean a witty and wise night owl, clearly.

You wouldn't happen to be a bitter, resentful morning person, now would you? :)

Saturday 13 November

By exoticdoc2

Lowest Ranked

Don't you just love the way "experts" make overly broad generalizations? Some people are night owls and some are morning people. I highly doubt it has any connection with intelligence.