What being a morning person says about your breast cancer risk

Is it better to be a morning person or a night owl? Well, the truth is, there are perks to both…

I, for example, have always been an early bird. That means I have a hard time staying up late.

I remember when I was younger, I hated being a morning person because I was the first person to fall asleep at sleepovers. If I went to late movies, I’d fall asleep in the movie theater. I had a hard time staying up for late night TV shows like Saturday Night Live. I wished I could be a night owl like many of my friends.

And there are plenty of other benefits to life as a night owl…

Research shows night owls tend to be more creative and intelligent. They also have more mental stamina later in the day. That means they can burn the midnight oil to get stuff done, like homework, work or passion projects. Us early birds know late-night work sessions aren’t a great idea. We just wake up in the morning and realize we fell asleep on our laptops.

But there’s one area where us early birds have a big advantage — health.

Night owls have a higher risk of obesity, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. They’re more likely to smoke, drink alcohol, use drugs and stay sedentary too.

And now, new research shows that night owls face another big barrier to good health — a higher breast cancer risk.

Early birds get the worm… and a lower breast cancer risk

A study from researchers at the Cancer Research UK Integrative Cancer Epidemiology Programme and the MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol found that being a morning person makes a big dent in your breast cancer risk.

Researchers looked at data from over 400,000 women. They compared breast cancer risk based on factors like morning or evening preference, how long women slept per night and insomnia. Here’s what researchers found…

Women who are at their best earlier in the day (aka early birds, morning people or whatever you want to call them) are an astounding 40 to 48 percent less likely to get breast cancer. That means, the simple act of being a morning person slashes your breast cancer risk nearly in half!

There wasn’t much connection between insomnia and breast cancer risk. And the connection between how long you sleep and breast cancer risk was small. But the connection between being a morning person or night person and breast cancer risk was too big to ignore.

If you’re a night owl, you’re probably wondering why your natural nocturnal tendencies are bad for your breasts. Here’s the strongest theory…

It all comes down to your circadian rhythm. Previous research shows that people who buck the natural cycles of day and night by being asleep when it’s light out and awake when it’s dark out are more prone to breast cancer. Night shift, workers, for example have a higher risk of breast cancer. And people who are exposed to a lot of bright light at night also have a higher breast cancer risk.

Can night owls lower their breast cancer risk by going to bed early?

If you’re a night owl, you might think there’s an easy fix here — force yourself to go to bed and wake up early. Unfortunately, that may not do the trick…

The results of the study were based on morning or evening preference… not whether women actually followed this preference. Some self-professed night owls, for example, work 9-5 jobs and have to conform to an early bird schedule.

So, researchers aren’t sure if abandoning your night owl ways will lower your breast cancer risk or not. It might. There’s just no research to prove that it works yet.

In the meantime, there are a few proven ways you can lower breast cancer risk right away, like:

Maintaining a healthy BMI. Being obese or overweight increases breast cancer risk.
Keep moving. Getting at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise each week takes a bite out of your breast cancer risk.
Sitting less. Women who sit for six hours or more during their after-work hours are 10 percent more likely to get invasive breast cancer.
Not drinking. Alcohol is bad for breast cancer risk. Drinking two to three alcoholic drinks per day can increase breast cancer risk by 20 percent. But even one drink per day increases breast cancer risk slightly.
Finding natural alternatives to hormone replacement therapy (HRT). A lot of women turn to HRT to battle menopause symptoms like night sweats and hot flashes. Problem is, postmenopausal women who use HRT have an increased risk of breast cancer.

Editor’s note: Discover how to live a cancer prevention lifestyle — using foods, vitamins, minerals and herbs — as well as little-known therapies allowed in other countries but denied to you by American mainstream medicine. Click here to discover Surviving Cancer! A Comprehensive Guide to Understanding the Causes, Treatments and Big Business Behind Medicine’s Most Frightening Diagnosis!

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