If you’ve ever been guilt-tripped for staying up too late, here’s your comeback: a new study has found that night owls tend to perform better on cognitive tests than morning people.
Researchers from Imperial College London analyzed data from over 26,000 UK adults, using the UK Biobank, to explore how sleep patterns affect brain performance. Participants self-identified as either “morning” or “evening” types and completed a series of cognitive tests measuring memory, reasoning and processing speed.
People who said they were more active in the evening scored significantly higher—by about 13.5% in one group and 7.5% in another—compared to early risers. Those in the middle (not strongly morning or night) still outperformed morning types, scoring 6–10% higher.
“Rather than just being personal preferences, these chronotypes could impact our cognitive function,” said Dr. Raha West, lead author of the study.
The study also confirmed that sleep duration matters: 7–9 hours per night was the sweet spot for optimal brain function. Anything less or more showed a noticeable drop in cognitive performance.
The findings were also adjusted for factors like age, chronic illness, smoking and alcohol use—so no, it’s not just that all the high performers are young and healthy. Even when controlling for lifestyle, evening people still came out ahead.
So if your brain doesn’t fully turn on until 6 p.m., science says that might be your edge—not your flaw.
