Night owls may die earlier because they tend to drink and smoke more, study suggests

close up on four people's hands holding beers as they raise a toast over a pub table with some small bowls of nuts placed on it

Night owls' tendency to smoke more cigarettes and drink more alcohol than early birds could explain why evening people have a higher risk of early death than early risers do, a large analysis suggests.

"This can reassure people concerned about what being a morning or evening person means for their life expectancy and health," study co-author Jaakko Kaprio, a professor of genetic epidemiology at the University of Helsinki in Finland, told Live Science. "It's not about the chronotype [being a morning or evening person] itself that is dangerous, but it is the associated lifestyle factors."