We’ve all heard the saying “the early bird catches the worm” and while it may be true that those who get up early have a jump start on the day, it’s been proven that night owls, or the people who prefer to stay up late and work into the night, are probably more intelligent.
Intelligent people are more likely to be nocturnal than people with lower IQ scores. In a study run on young Americans, results showed that intelligent individuals went to bed later on weeknights and weekends than their less intelligent counterparts, according to phychology expersts.
Psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa carried out extensive research into the connection between sleep patterns and intelligence. Kanazawa theorizes that whilst our ancestors 10,000 years ago used to rise and fall with the sun much like our animal friends following their circadian rhythm, advances in technology have allowed intelligent brains to ignore that impulse and search for stimulation late at night.
His results was published by Study Magazine and showed that people with an IQ of less than 75 roughly went to bed around 11:41pm on a weeknight and rose at 7:20am. Whereas, those with an IQ of 125 and above didn’t go to sleep until approximately 12:29pm on a weeknight, rising at 7:52am. These times changed considerably on weekends, with the higher IQ’s choosing to stay in bed until 11am, whereas the lower IQ participants rose at around 10am.
Another study, according to Smithsonian Magazine, analyzed the circadian rhythms of 1,000 teenagers. The study found that the students who tended to stay up later had better inductive reasoning – an indicator for intelligence.
