Night owls are bad drivers: Study

Updated on: 29 June,2014 07:50 AM IST |
Agencies |

A UK-based research says that early risers are better drivers than the ‘night birds’

Night Owls are bad drivers: Study, Health

London: Individual chronotypes — that is, whether you are a ‘morning-type’ or an ‘evening-type’, depending on the time of day when your physiological functions are more active — markedly influences driving performance, says a study.

If you’re the ‘morning-type’, chances are, you will be a good driver

Evening-types are worse drivers as they pay less attention at their ‘non-optimal’ time of day (early in the morning) in comparison to their optimal time (during the evening), the findings showed.

Morning-types are more stable drivers, both in the morning and the evening.

“As scientists we use the simile related with birds — we tend to compare early birds — we call them sky larks — with morning-type people, and night owls with evening-types,” explained Angel Correa from the University of Granada in Spain.

For the study, researchers analysed the Circadian rhythms in a sample of 29 participants with extreme chronotypes, selected from a database sample of over 500.

Both the morning, and the evening-types were made to drive at 8 in the morning and 8 in the evening. Then they compared their driving performance at their respective optimal and non-optimal times of day.

In the light of the results, employers should test workers to determine whether they are morning or evening-types and adapt work schedules to suit chronotypes.