Waking Up An Hour Earlier Can Help Fight Depression
Good sleep is essential to maintain good physical and mental health. Now new research has revealed that good health also depends on sleep schedules. Waking up an hour earlier has generally been found to be a routine that helps prevent or combat major depression.
The study was carried out by a team of researchers from the University of Colorado in 2021. In this it was established that waking up an hour earlier, in people who tend to do it rather late, helps to have a better mood. According to experts, it reduces the risk of developing major depression by up to 23%.
This research adds to other similar ones in which it had been established that early risers tend to be healthier, both physically and mentally. At the same time, those who prolong the day are more likely to develop mood disorders. To a large extent, the fact that waking up an hour earlier improves our mood is associated with enjoying more hours of sunshine.
The University of Colorado Study
The study analyzed data from 85,000 people. They had genetic samples from all of them, thanks to the DNA testing company 23andMe and the UK Biobank biomedical database. Of that sample, about a third identified as early risers. About 9% were night owls, while the rest seemed to be somewhere in the middle.
Taking as a basis the genetic samples obtained, together with the medical history of the participants and some questionnaires, an attempt was made to obtain some conclusions. What they asked was whether people who have genetic variants that favor the habit of getting up early are also less likely to suffer from depression. They found that their data pointed in favor of an affirmative answer.
The study started from the idea that if a person goes to bed an hour earlier, they will also wake up an hour earlier. Based on this premise, they came to the conclusion that if a person who, for example, goes to bed at 3 am, decides to go to bed at 2 am, the risk of suffering depression is reduced by 23%. If you go to bed at 1 am, the risk reduction could be 40%.
Why wake up an hour earlier?
Although the study presents very detailed data, the truth is that the experts did not fully understand the reasons why waking up an hour earlier is so beneficial in preventing or reducing depression. In principle, they assume that this is because daylight generates a cascade of hormonal impacts that affect mood.
However, experts do not rule out the idea that non-early risers have a certain mismatch with the social rhythm. We live in a society that privileges daytime activities and, therefore, not working on that frequency can cause a certain feeling of inadequacy. In fact, being a night owl implies giving up a “normal life”.
However, the study indicates that all of this is conjecture and that none of it can be considered conclusive. They urge new and extensive research to continue unraveling the reasons why waking up an hour earlier can have such an impact on the inclination not to get depressed.
How to wake up an hour earlier
People known as “larks” rarely have trouble waking up early. On the other hand, the “owls” and the half “owls” do have certain difficulties in adopting a schedule that more closely coincides with the solar cycle.
How to overcome that obstacle? Perhaps the problem is not so much in waking up at a certain time, but in overcoming the temptation to stretch out the day, to go to bed late. Achieving this can be difficult at first; In the morning we feel sleepy, while at the time of going to bed we feel that we are much more active.
What we can do is prepare the time for sleep two hours before going to bed. How? Gradually reducing activity, in every way.
Eat less, drink less, and generally do less. We can choose to do relaxation exercises one hour before going to sleep. In the same way, we can consider the possibility of doing some type of physical exercise at the beginning of the day that wakes up our body.
