Smart people prefer to live at night and have a harder time sleeping
An investigation of the Semmelweis University detected correlations between preferences in the hours that the person spends to sleep and their IQ score .
Are those who live at night smarter?
Smarter people tend to prefer nightlife, when their creativity reaches its zenith. It is for this reason that these people often go to bed later or have trouble falling asleep.
Although different investigations have warned that sleeping little has very harmful consequences for health and can even shorten life, the truth is that there is a relationship between high level of IC and suffering insomnia.
Rest and sleep hours play an essential role in the biology of animals, and this new study provides new variables to consider: sleep patterns and rest times are linked to their cognitive ability . As the results show, subjects with higher IQ scores tend to be more active during the night, while those with more discrete scores tend to go to bed earlier.
Research on sleep cycles and intelligence
The truth is that this type of research always generate controversy. Many analysts agree that the concept of the IQ used to measure such a abstract and relative concept as human intelligence is in itself a basic limitation. There is no doubt, however, that the night has characteristics that attract certain types of personalities, such as reflective people and those who develop their creative potential; profiles that demand a comfortable and mystical environment that provides the night .
Robert Bolizs, one of the authors of the research, showed through the images of encephalograms during sleep episodes, that there are certain variables that are directly associated with cognitive performance in the waking state. On the other hand, the investigations of H. Aliasson They revealed how they correlate sleep intervals with students' academic performance.
The correlation between scores in intelligence tests and schedules is remarkable
Other interesting studies on this subject are those carried out by the researcher Satoshu Kanazawa at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Kanazawa pointed out that there are significant differences between the predilections in the sleep schedules in reference to their score in IQ tests . Subjects with higher scores reported a greater ability to produce at night, while people with more limited IQ levels limited their activities during the day.
As Kanazawa indicates, prehistoric humans lived and produced mainly during the day, although the tendency was reversed, increasing the nocturnal activity as generations passed. It is from this point of view that it seems right to say that the evolution of the human psyche seems to be progressively linked with nighttime schedules . In summary, Kanazawa agrees that people with greater cognitive abilities tend to feel more at ease in promoting their personal development in the night hours, showing a "higher level of cognitive complexity."
Night people and mental health
Another investigation carried out in 2008 and coordinated by the Italian psychologist Marina Giampietro He pointed out that night people have a weaker emotional stability and are more prone to suffer from depression and addictions . This would confirm that the minds with greater capacity for creation and less traditional are in turn the most fragile in the face of certain psychological disorders.
More information about the difference between morning and night owls in the following article:
"The differences between being morning and being vespertino"
