NEW research has shown that waking up just one hour earlier could reduce a person's risk of major depression 23 per cent.

The genetic based study involving questionnaires and the use of sleep tracking devices was carried out by a team working across three institutions: the University of Colorado Boulder, the Broad Institute of MIT, and Harvard

The research - which looked at data from 840,000 individuals - seems to suggest just how much, or little, change is required to influence mental health. As people emerge from lockdown, (and for some the enforced change to sleeping habits during this time), the findings could have important implications.

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Professor Celine Vetter said: "We have known for some time that there is a relationship between sleep timing and mood, but a question we often hear from clinicians is: How much earlier do we need to shift people to see a benefit?

"We found that even one-hour earlier sleep timing is associated with significantly lower risk of depression."

Previous observational studies have shown that night owls are as much as twice as likely to suffer from depression as early risers, regardless of how long they sleep. But because mood disorders themselves can disrupt sleep patterns, researchers have had a hard time deciphering what causes what.

This study offers some of the strongest evidence yet that chronotype - a person's propensity to sleep at a certain time - influences depression risk.