“Night owls are smarter than other people, and now we may know why. The modern world contains many features our slow-to-evolve brains still find unfamiliar—cars, TVs, hot dogs on a stick. But the world has always thrown new stuff at us, and brighter humans may adapt more ably.
Satoshi Kanazawa, a psychologist at The London School of Economics and Political Science, argues that, while we have specialized mental modules for navigation, social interaction, and other age-old tasks, general intelligence is its own module handling only evolutionarily novel circumstances. And he has data showing that people with higher IQs are more likely to have values and preferences that just didn’t make sense for our ancestors to embrace. One of those is staying up late.
A previous study found that evening people are smarter than morning people. In a new paper, Kanazawa replicates the finding and provides a theoretical grounding. Because the nocturnal lifestyle allowed by electricity didn’t exist 10,000 years ago, we must now rely on general intelligence to override our early-to-bed instincts. So those with more of it stay up later. How much later? See below.
Bedtimes and wake-up times for Americans in their 20s by IQ.
Very Dull (IQ < 75)
Weekday: 11:41 P.M.-7:20 A.M.
Weekend: 12:35 A.M.-10:09 A.M.
Normal (90 < IQ < 110)
Weekday: 12:10 A.M.-7:32 A.M.
Weekend: 1:13 A.M.-10:14 A.M.
Very Bright (IQ > 125)
Weekday: 12:29 A.M.-7:52 A.M.
Weekend: 1:44 A.M.-11:07 A.M.”
Read more at Psychology Today (Thanks @TheBritScott)
I think this is nonsense and more likely to be a matter of coincidence.
Funny – I thought it was my intelligence that made me go to bed at a reasonable hour most nights. ;D
I’m a ‘All Week: 08:00 am – 10:00 pm’ person, wherever that fits in.
I’m a fraid I don’t fit into the chart with my wisdomly sleeping time. Apparently, I’m a genius!
Ha! I am sharing this with everyone.
Considering the fact that it’s 5:46 a.m. here and I haven’t gone to bed yet.
OOh my link!
Anyway – I think the test should be carried out on a nation with an average IQ that’s higher.
I don’t think it is fair to class us as Americans… (no offence).
Scott
I’d like to think this pattern can be extrapolated linearly to my typical current bedtime at around 3ish, but … that seems unlikely. Oh well.
i was going to ask where why the results for those above an 125 IQ were all lumped into one category rather than having a clearer break down, but then i read this bit;
“Bedtimes and wake-up times for Americans in their 20s by IQ.”
and then realised that there probably wasn’t enough data collected above a 125 IQ to produce meaningful results if further broken down.
(comedic pause)
BAZINGA! just jesting.
Finally, some good news about my inability to sleep before 2am.
I don’t get to sleep till 4-6am and wake at 12pm. I was always an insomniac child and it didn’t matter how many times I “fixed” my body clock, I always went back to my wicked ways lol. If its of any interest, I also have an IQ of about 124 (usually 120+ if internet websites can be considered reliable).
So, wow, I like this theory
I stay up till four and get up at two! I MUST BE STEVEN HAWKING’S EQUAL!!!!
(On second thought, nevermind.)
wow, i’m an absolute flying genius…or a lazy slug.
Interesting stuff. Finally my late nights are justified
Apparently I have a 121 IQ, but I don’t see what time I should be sleeping on that chart…!
Interesting. I myself stay up late at night and have an IQ>125. I do wonder, though If there is any benefit really for doing it now that we can. I mean, from what I see, there is nothing of real value to gain from it but there is not really anything to lose either. The only reason why is stay up late and sleep in is because I like the crowd of people online at night more and it is more peaceful.
I could do witha few more IQ points, I think I shall start going to bed later.
@ codifier
i can just see it now,
“must ….resist ….urge….. to…… sleep, getting…..smarter……..zzzzzzzzzz.”
now i have some new material to share with people that disagree with my sleeping schedule. they say people that have insomnia are likely to have depression or something and that people that are prone to depression and mood swings are more likely to have a higher IQ (fine line between crazy and genius sorta thing) so it kinda wraps together, but thats just a general theory, not much thought into that ^_^
I bet this whole phenomenon disappears when they control for college attendance. IMO it’s a relic of the college culture, late to bed/late to rise behavior that is likely learned, not an innate behavior.
It would be interesting to see this data for every age, 10-60. I bet the effect is most pronounced during and immediately after the college years.
What a rubbish!
How about people like myself who need to get up between 05:00 and 05:30, who need to go to bed around 22:30 and 23:00 in order to get at least 7 hours of sleep in?
Nah I don’t buy this I think it’s stuff related to staying up late. Like wanking on the images of lucious women advertising themselves. Or watching reruns of SOAP. Now that I believe will make you smarter.
Well, according to the various IQ tests I’ve taken (all of which have done nothing but test my ability to take IQ tests), my IQ is somewhere between 135 and 145. My typical bedtime is 2am weekdays and 3am weekends. So seems to match up.
Damn, I like to be in bed just after 10, where does that put me?
seems unlikely
Every intelligent, insiteful, fascinating person I have ever met has been a night owl.
We have plenty of time in the wee small hours to contemplate the meaning of life, the universe & everything.
If left to my own devices I’d sleep from about 6am to noon & last time my IQ was tested it was over 150 !
@blackdogmma
Ha ha, yes it seems my IQ does suffer a little on occasions where I plant myself in front of the telly and doze off around 11pm. I blame our comfortable sofa!
I got to 1.30am last night though so I must have had a particularly intelligent evening.
Is it just me who gets the following error every time I try to post a comment?:
Error: You entered in the wrong Captcha phrase. Press your browsers back button and try again.
Even though I’m positive I typed the right code in, second time always works a charm. Perhaps I take too long to write my comments and the code is timing out.
I think this is very possibly true….seems Im getting thicker the older I get…especially at the weekend.. seen me do 6oclock in the morning a few years back..now lucky if I reach 02:00am… could sleep in till forever though..I hate mornings.
I agree with Elephants child..all the interesting people I know stay up late x
awesome, I am so using this excuse on my mum
It makes sense, im smartest in family, and have latest sleeping habits
Thats just bullshit ,I have an Iq of 145 and I have a regimented sleeping time from 9:30 pm to 6:30 am ..And Idont think that has affected me much
Maybe Paul McKenna and Derren could do a stay awake at night and improve all skills audio tape. And since Paul mentions Derren in todays 60 Second Metro interview they should at least film each other enjoying a chat and a coffee or pot of tea just to give us an insight.
@codifier ~ me too. (damn thing!) Usually happens when Iv’e thumbed in a load of rubbish and I can’t save it so when I go back I re-type what I think my point was, if I had one at all. I suppose this would be the site to improve my memory on with Derren’s captcha code. Code appears shorter though.
I really do not believe a word of this, I have an IQ of 140 and work rotating shifts. I tend to prefer early nights & early mornings on days off. There is much more evidence to support just regular & plenty of sleep improves memory, learning & cognative ability, of which are key factors in higher IQ’s.
Yeeeah…
…doesn’t really explain QuizCall, does it?..
I enjoy your current comments. Although I may not agree with everything you say, it truly is great to see another person showing their thoughts with the bare minimum of fuss.