A new study conducted by the British University of Exeter revealed that early risers are naturally happier and less likely to be depressed than people who stay up late at night.
More than 450,000 middle-aged volunteers described themselves as either night owls or early risers who filled out a questionnaire about their mental health and were then compared to their levels of depression, anxiety and well-being.
Experts can also tell who's naturally early risers by looking at their genes - the genes of early risers tend to be slightly different, as researchers at the University of Exeter looked at 351 genetic variants to identify naturally early risers.
People with a genetic profile of early awakening were 8% less likely to be depressed and 5% more likely to enjoy higher levels of well-being than night owls — possibly because their bedtimes were broadly similar on weekdays and weekends.
The researchers found that early risers were 21% less likely to develop depression than those described as night owls, who were more likely to stay up late and sleep on weekends, making them more likely to feel miserable and depressed.
The study looked at 451,025 people between the ages of 40 and 60 from the UK Biobank database.
It determined whether people were forced to deviate from normal sleep patterns by tracking the sleep of more than 50,000 people.
Jessica O'Loughlin, lead author of the study published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, said the findings were "the strongest evidence to date that being a morning person protects against depression and improves well-being."
"We think this may be explained by the fact that demands of society mean that night owls are more likely to challenge their natural body clocks by having to get up early to work," she added.
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