Study finds evening types struggle more with work life balance

A study by the University of Eastern Finland, reported by Yle, has found that evening types have more difficulty balancing work and the rest of their lives than morning types.

Evening types were also more likely to experience symptoms of depression and anxiety, live less healthily and cope less well at work than morning types, earlier research has shown.

The new study found that the mental health problems of evening types are partly linked to the strain of working life. They recover less well from work than morning types, and work more easily spills over into their free time.

“Why this happens is a big question mark,” said Ilona Merikanto, a docent of public health and the study’s lead researcher.

Merikanto said the most likely explanation is that the rhythm of society is not optimal for evening types. This can lead to several negative effects, including sleep deprivation, which together undermine people’s ability to work and their wellbeing.

Merikanto and her colleagues are studying the issue in more detail in a University of Helsinki project examining how different risk factors interact.

Extreme evening types most affected

The newly published study found that mental health problems were particularly pronounced among extreme evening types, whose best functioning occurs late in the evening.

Extreme evening types account for about 14 per cent of the population and are slightly more common among women than men. Their share of the adult population has also increased slightly since the 2000s, Merikanto said.

Mental health problems among working-age people are a serious and growing issue in Finland. Merikanto said it is important to identify those who are especially vulnerable to the harmful effects of working life, so that inequalities related to work can be reduced.

The researchers divided working-age people into three groups according to whether they were morning types, evening types or intermediate types. The data came from the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare’s Healthy Finland survey.

The study was published in June in the US scientific journal Sleep Health.