London - You might prefer to get an early night and rise at the crack of dawn, or choose to stay up late and lie in for half the day. And the difference could depend on your genes, researchers have claimed.
Experts believe our genetic make-up determines exactly whether we are early or late risers – with the two variations dubbed larks and owls.
Lead researcher Dr Louis Ptacek, from the University of California, started looking at sleep patterns after one of his colleagues told him about treating a man who was concerned that he couldn’t stop waking up early.
He discovered that families of extreme night owls all had the same distinctive genetic mutation. And he believes that understanding a person’s chronotype – the time of day they function best – can help people to live a far healthier life.
Dr Ptacek said: “We recognised this was a strong genetic trait. We found the mutated gene near the end of chromosome 2.
“Whether we like it or not, our parents are still telling us when to go to bed – based on the genes that they gave us.” - Daily Mail