Staying Up Late Might Be Damaging Your Heart, According to New Research

Going to bed on time can be tough, given the unlimited distractions we have at our fingertips. But early bedtimes got a huge PR boost when recent research showed that night owls may be more likely to have heart issues.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, makes the case for going to bed at a reasonable time. I interviewed experts to explain the relationship between early bedtimes and good cardiovascular health—and what this new study means for you.

Nearly 27,000 Participants Identified as Night Owls

The researchers behind the new study analyzed data from more than 322,000 participants, all of whom were enrolled in a large database called the UK Biobank. The participants, aged 39 to 74, were not known to have any cardiovascular diseases.

The researchers put all participants into one of three categories—“morning person,” “intermediate,” or “evening person”—based on how they self-identified. The majority of participants—67 percent—said they fell somewhere between being a morning person and an evening person; they were placed in the intermediate group. Eight percent of participants said they were evening people, and about 24 percent said they were morning people.

Eight Factors Contribute to Good Heart Health

The researchers then compared participants’ heart health using a scoring system developed by the American Heart Association, called Life’s Essential 8. The tool calculates a person’s heart health score based on eight factors: their diet, activity level, tobacco use, sleep quality, weight, cholesterol, blood sugar, and blood pressure.

Scores for each factor range from 0 to 100; higher scores indicate better cardiovascular health.

Night Owls May Be More Likely to Have a Heart Attack or Stroke

The night owls of the group had a 79 percent higher prevalence of poor heart health scores compared to people in the intermediate group. The morning people, on the other hand, had a five percent lower prevalence of poor heart health scores.

The researchers tracked the study participants for about 14 years and found that evening people had a 16 percent higher risk of heart attack and stroke.

While these numbers suggest an association between bedtime and overall heart health, further research across diverse populations is needed to confirm these findings. “This study was from the UK, and it will be important to replicate these findings in other communities where health behaviors, such as smoking, diet, and sleep, may vary,” says Kristen L. Knutson, an associate professor of neurology who specializes in sleep medicine at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, who was not involved in the study.

Why Do Sleep Patterns Impact Your Cardiovascular Health?

While the results seem daunting, the research doesn’t suggest that the actual act of staying up late is what affects your heart, says Dr. Ashish Sarraju, a preventive cardiologist at Cleveland Clinic, who was not involved in the study. Rather, “it appears that risk factor control was poorer among evening people,” he says. Specifically, evening people may be more at risk for cardiovascular disease due to nicotine use, poor sleep, and difficulty managing weight, blood sugar, and diet.

“We can’t say that staying up late causes nicotine exposure, but staying up late could be a marker of lifestyle habits or stressors that are then associated with poorer risk factor control,” says Sarraju. In other words, going to bed late might lead to poorer lifestyle habits in general.

Both sleep quality and quantity affect cardiovascular health, says Sarraju. “Sleep duration is associated with cardiovascular health risk factors, and there may be an interplay between factors that relate to sleep—like psychological health, life stressors, etc.—and cardiovascular risk factors,” he says.

Sarraju explains that there is an upside to the new research; if we know that people who tend to stay up late at night are more likely to, for example, have difficulty managing their blood sugar or use products that contain nicotine, doctors can intervene and warn them about the cumulative effect of lifestyle habits on heart health.

Does Going to Bed Late Affect Your Fitness Performance?

Poor sleep can also make it really hard to work out. A 2025 review published in Frontiers in Physiology found that sleep deprivation can tank athletes’ aerobic endurance, speed, and skill control.

“Insufficient sleep has a pronounced effect on our balance, as it affects something called postural control,” says Jennifer Martin, a spokesperson for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and professor at Florida International University, who was not involved in the study. This makes any activity that requires balance—say, trail running—a risky endeavor if you haven’t been getting enough sleep, Martin explains.

Sleep deprivation also impairs our ability to make decisions, says Joseph M. Dzierzewski, senior vice president of research and scientific affairs at the National Sleep Foundation, who was not involved in the study. “When you’re sleep-deprived, your brain processes information, including movement, more slowly. It’s like trying to work out with a slight delay between intention and action,” says Dzierzewski. “Studies consistently show higher injury rates in people with poorer sleep, and good-quality sleep is critical for recovery and maximizing the benefits of exercise,” he says.

The point, experts say, is that your body needs quality sleep in order to function properly, and it really is worth your while to put down your devices and get some rest.

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