• Posted June 4, 2026

Night Owls Are More Prone To Anxiety, Loneliness

The wee hours of the morning might not be so good for the mental health of night owls, a new study says.

People with later sleep schedules have more anxiety and feelings of loneliness, researchers will report at an upcoming joint meeting of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society.

“People with later sleep patterns reported poorer mental health in part because they also experienced greater loneliness, including feelings of loneliness at night, and increased levels of anxiety,” said lead investigator Alec Harlow, an undergraduate research assistant at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.

“The findings suggest that both daytime and nighttime social experiences appear to be relevant when examining mental health among evening chronotypes,” Harlow said in a news release.

For the study, researchers looked at the chronotype of 442 people. Chronotype is a person’s natural preference for sleep and wake timing.

Participants also filled out questionnaires that evaluated their feelings of loneliness and their anxiety.

Results showed that night owls reported significantly higher levels of anxiety.

Feeling lonely at night partially explains this link, researchers said. Greater nocturnal loneliness was associated with higher anxiety.

People who are night owls might be more prone to have social schedules that don’t align well with others, researchers said.

“Evaluating and addressing loneliness, including the challenges that arise at night, such as anxiety, may represent a meaningful intervention target for therapists, clinicians and researchers to improve the well-being of people with later chronotypes,” Harlow said.

The research is scheduled to be presented June 17 at SLEEP 2026, the medical meeting scheduled to take place in Baltimore.

Findings presented at meetings should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

Sleep Foundation has more on chronotypes.

SOURCE: American Academy of Sleep Medicine, news release, June 2, 2026