Night owls more prone to antisocial behaviour, claims study

Are you a night owl? Do you stay up late scheming all manner of wrong doing on the world?

If you answered "yes" to the first question and "no" to the second, you're probably not alone. But a new Australian study indicates that you are more devious than your early-rising pals.

The researchers suggests that those who stay up late and sleep in longer display more narcissistic, psychopathic and Machiavellian tendencies, and are particularly prone to exhibiting these characteristics at night.

The study, published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, links a tendency to stay up late with what psychologists call the "Dark Triad" of personality traits.

Also see: Could catching up on sleep lower your risk of diabetes?

A team of researchers lead by Peter Jonason of the University of Western Sydney surveyed 263 undergraduate students online. Students, who were an average age of 24, were categorized according their chronotype, what time of day they feel the most alert, as reflected in hormone levels, temperature, brain functioning, eating and sleeping.

Those who were more active and felt more alert in the morning were referred to as "larks," while those who prefer late evening hours were classed as "owls."

According the researchers, the good news is that while both nocturnality and Dark Triad characteristics are hereditary, they are also changeable. They speculate that night owls use night time to engage in a "cheater strategy."

"We propose that in order to best enact a 'cheater strategy' those high on the Dark Triad traits should have optimal cognitive performance and, thus, have a nighttime chronotype," they write.

Also see: Irregular bedtimes may impair a child's cognitive function

"Such a disposition will take advantage of the low light, the limited monitoring, and the lessened cognitive processing of morning-type people."

Curiously, this is not the only study released this week about night owls. Another study published in the journal Science suggests that those who sleep in later tire less quickly throughout the day.

Both groups performed well immediately after they wake up, but ten hours into the day, the night owls were more alert.

What are your thoughts on how night owls function differently than early risers? Have you noticed a difference?