If you're sharper at 10 p.m. than at 8 a.m., a new study is worth your attention. Researchers in Finland tracked more than 5,600 people from age 46 to 57 and found that "evening types" (night owls) were granted disability pensions about 70% more often than early risers. In other words, they were more likely to leave the workforce early because of health problems.
What the researchers did
The study, published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine and led by Tapio Räihä at Oulu University, drew on a long-running group of people born in northern Finland in 1966. At 46, participants answered survey questions about how easily they woke up, how alert they felt in the morning, and whether they saw themselves as morning or evening people. Roughly 10% of men and 12% of women landed in the night owl category. Researchers then followed official pension records through 2023.
By the end, 8.3% of evening-type men and 12.1% of evening-type women had received a disability pension, compared with 5.0% and 7.2% of early-bird men and women. The pattern held after accounting for education, occupation, and income.
Why it's not the whole story
The study shows a link, not a cause. Several things stand out:
- Night owls started out in worse health. Many more rated their health as poor, and they reported less exercise, more insomnia, and more "social jetlag" (the gap between workday and weekend sleep schedules).
- Work patterns mattered. Once the researchers accounted for working hours and shift type, the gap fell to about 40% in men and under 20% in women. Night shifts were more common among owls, and a typical Finnish workday starts around 8 a.m., which may not suit a late body clock.
- Adjusting for everything nearly erased the gap. The authors caution that this may be overcorrection, since poor health could be a step on the path from a mismatched schedule to early exit rather than a separate factor.
What this means for your career
I'd read this as a prompt to look at your working life, not as a warning that you're doomed. Some practical takeaways:
- Ask about flexibility. Staggered start times, hybrid arrangements, or later core hours can reduce the daily mismatch between your body clock and your job.
- Treat sleep as a career asset. Chronic poor sleep and low mood can dull the thinking that demanding roles depend on, which the authors suggest may explain part of the pattern.
- Think twice about rotating or night shifts. If you're a natural night owl, these can be a hidden health cost even if they sound like a good fit.
- Don't ignore early warning signs. Persistent fatigue, insomnia, or health problems are worth addressing early, before they affect your ability to work.
The bigger question
Night owls are a sizable share of the workforce, and the study can't say whether rigid schedules are to blame. But a gap this large, showing up in both men and women during the core years of a career, raises a fair question: do conventional work hours suit everyone equally well? Employers and job seekers alike might do well to start asking it.