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DENVER (KDVR) — Brand new research indicates people who go to bed early and wake up early are at lower risk for depression, compared to those who stay up late and get fewer hours of sleep.

The study, published in JAMA Psychiatry, took data from 800,000 adults to track the midpoint of sleep, which scientifically measures a person’s sleep tendencies.

Through the study, researchers discovered morning people with certain genetic variants had a 23% lower risk of major depression for every hour earlier the sleep midpoint.

“I do think there’s probably a real increased risk that a large portion of the people whose circadian rhythms naturally helps them fall asleep around 2am may have an alarm go off at 7am. And that is going to be more problematic for those people who have sort of a shifted or delayed circadian rhythm, which is what we call the ‘night owls’,” said Dr. Katherine Green with the UCHealth Sleep Medicine Clinic.

(Source: CDC)

In our state, data from the CDC shows roughly 28.5% of Coloradans get less than 7 hours of sleep per night.

To read more of the study, click here.