Research from LSE has shown that people who sleep late tend to have higher IQs. The study reveals that that intelligent individuals are more likely to be nocturnal. Human beings used to be all day-oriented and that the act of sleeping late is an evolutionary novel preference made by people who have a higher level of cognitive complexity. This is another way of saying that smart people stay up late.
Sleep researched Robert Alison divides people into two groups, based on their ability to exhibit morningness (sleep early) and eveningness (sleep late). He says that eveningness is an evolutional advancement that marks out more clever individuals, while those with lower IQs restrict their activities primarily to daytime, categorized by morningness.
Evolution?
It is evolution because the more intelligent members of species tend to, in general, be the first to change their habits. Why? Because their big brains are wired to seek out creativity, newer things or in other words, novelty. Smarties usually prefer working during night hours as they are less distracted by day-dwellers and more focused on what they are trying to accomplish.
Are you a night owl?
Well, if you are a night owl, you might have a higher IQ than people who aren’t. But wait, there are problems. Research has shown that people who stay up late have a higher rate of emotional instability, with addictions and eating disorders. More research reveals that night owls are prone to a great health hazard of heart disease and arterial stiffness. All of this combined changes the bodies circadian rhythms (biological time-keeping of our body) which contributes to a greater risk of coronary diseases.
Editor Comments:
I have received some comments that are completely indicating how people have misunderstood the real topic at hand. The comments go like “so that means an owl is the smartest animal in the planet” and “sleeping late can be because of stress”. I need to make some points clear here. The article is talking about people who are naturally inclined to sleep late, not the ones who are forced to for some reason. There is a difference here. People who sleep late by choice are the ones who want to accomplish something they have in their mind, or are so passionate that they want to work during the wee hours of the night to think about something in greater depth. This is because night might be the ideal creative time for them. All of this indicates higher brain activity and hence higher IQ/intelligence. The LSE and other research mentioned in the article backs this up. Stressful people can be smart too. How do we know? Anyway, this article does not recommend you to stay up late at night, or to wake up early, but it’s just some food for thought.
About Ali Gajani
Hi. I am Ali Gajani. I started Mr. Geek in early 2012 as a result of my growing enthusiasm and passion for technology. I love sharing my knowledge and helping out the community by creating useful, engaging and compelling content. If you want to write for Mr. Geek, just PM me on my Facebook profile.
