Don’t hate perky morning people: It might be their DNA’s fault

Ars Technica » Scientific Method 2016-02-02

(credit: bruce_fulton)

The people who burst from bed as the sun rises to cheerily tackle their to-do list—while others sluggishly rouse and fumble with coffee makers—may have a few DNA tweaks in common.

Scanning the genetic blueprints of more than 89,000 people, researchers found that those who self-identify as “morning people” tended to have genetic variations in 15 specific spots in their genome compared with people who prefer to sleep in. Seven of those varied regions were in the DNA-neighborhoods of genes involved in circadian rhythms, aka daily physiological cycles, the authors reported in Nature Communications. For the remaining eight locations, researchers were a little foggy on a possible link to sleeping schedules and will need to do further research.

Though previous studies have hinted at a genetic basis for the difference between early birds and night owls, the new study offers the biggest genetic analysis to-date that backs up the DNA-based explanation. The genetic information was harvested from customers of 23andMe, a personal genetics company that offers direct-to-consumer DNA sequencing.

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