In total, 983 (69%) of those who were interviewed agreed to be examined by a geriatrician. The last or current occupation of the participant or the husband (if the participant was a woman) was used to determine social class in accordance with the registrar general’s classification of occupations (1970). The interviewer also asked about their sleeping habits-the time participants usually got up and the time they usually went to bed. They were visited by an interviewer who administered a questionnaire on their socioeconomic circumstances and assessed the overall standard of their accommodation, with reference to the availability of piped water, hot water, cooking facilities, and heating. Of those selected, 1688 people were living in private households and were asked to take part in the study 1419 (84%) agreed. Stratified sampling was used to obtain equal numbers of men and women aged 65 to 74 and 75 and over. The areas were Islington, Harrow, Hastings, Bristol, Salford, Rutherglen, Angus, and Merthyr Tydfil. In an attempt to substantiate Franklin’s gnomic wisdom with evidence, we used data collected in a survey of elderly people to examine the effects of time of going to bed and time of getting up on health, material circumstances, and cognitive function.ĭuring 19, the Department of Health and Social Security randomly sampled 1775 people in eight areas of Great Britain (five in England, two in Scotland, and one in Wales) using family practitioner committee lists of all patients aged 65 and over. Although there is a large literature on the scientific investigation of sleep, almost none is relevant to the possible influence of sleeping patterns on health outcomes, affluence, or sagacity.Īdvice about lifestyle needs more to recommend it than a simple rhyme and the ease with which it trips off the tongue. Is the explicit promise of reward in exchange for what might be a painful readjustment to a lark-like way of life justified? And how large are the expected benefits? These questions could not be answered by a search of biomedical and social science databases. It continues to irritate people with owlish circadian rhythms and children trying to negotiate a late bedtime. The American polymath Benjamin Franklin coined the maxim “early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise” and published it in Poor Richard’s Almanack during the 18th century. The lowest risk occurred in people who spent 8 hours in bed (adjusted relative risk 0.8 0.7 to 1.0). After adjustment for age, sex, the presence of illness, and other risk factors, people who spent 12 or more hours in bed had a relative risk of death of 1.7 (1.2 to 2.5) compared with those who were in bed for 9 hours. In the study sample as a whole, longer periods of time in bed were associated with increased mortality. Both larks and owls had a slightly reduced risk of death compared with the rest of the study sample, but this was accounted for by the fact that they spent less time in bed at night. There was also no evidence that larks were superior to those with other sleeping patterns with regard to their cognitive performance or their state of health. On the contrary, owls had the largest mean income and were more likely to have access to a car. There was no indication that larks were richer than those with other sleeping patterns. 356 people (29%) were defined as larks (to bed before 11 pm and up before 8 am) and 318 (26%) were defined as owls (to bed at or after 11 pm and up at or after 8 am).
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