How Staying Up Late Increases Intelligence

Society may think that night owls or those who stay awake at the later hours of the night
to be unreliable and lazy. Not to mention being unhealthy due to their “unnatural” sleeping habits. And since staying up late equals waking up late, night persons would tend to miss some tasks that require an early start.

Undoubtedly there are huge advantages for early risers, as the saying goes - the early bird catches the worm. However, there are numerous studies that show the beneficial effects of staying up late.

For one, Psychology Today reports that nocturnal individuals tend to have higher IQ scores compared to some of their counterparts. An analysis from a sample of young Americans supported this prediction.





Results show that intelligent individuals develop late sleeping patterns as they grow up compared to less intelligent individuals. For example, the average of those with childhood IQs less than 75 (“Very Dull”)  go to bed by 8:41 pm whereas those with a childhood IQ of over 125 (“Very Bright”) go to bed around 12:29 am.

Study Magazine also confirms this theory. According to Satoshi Kanazawa, psychologist at The London of School of Economics and Political Science, early humans were limited by the lack of technology and just adapted their lifestyle to daylight pattern.

Now that there are more means of practicing cognitive processes during the night, owls can already take advantage of operating and accomplishing tasks during this time. And without the distraction of day-to-day errands one can allot more focus in activities they’re doing thus allowing to create superior outputs.

Staying up late also fuels the mind’s creativity by allowing ourselves to think outside of the box. During the daytime we are more vigilant of our actions, our ideas whereas at night, there is more freedom to explore our inner thoughts, our passions. And with this, intelligent people are able to express themselves more- may it be through art, music or other innovative creations.

By having the ability for night owls to defy the rules of an early bird world allows them to gain a revolutionary way of thinking. Paving way to challenge existing ideas and discover new ones.

Going back to the saying that the early bird catches the worm, night owls would then get the whole jar. For while the early risers get to see the worm surface the wet earth, the other have already gotten before they could even burrow under.