Science says: a morning mood is the fault of your DNA

Getting up is the most terrible thing there is. Whether it's six o'clock in the morning or somewhere deep in the afternoon, I just don't like it. Unfortunately, the times when I could sleep deep into the afternoon are also left behind in my puberty, so usually I'm just nicely awake by myself around seven o'clock. Including morning mood, you understand, because I find getting up very stupid.

Those evenings, I really enjoy those. During the week, I usually sleep between one and two o'clock at night (luckily I don't need much sleep) and I usually have dinner late as well. Because evenings are just wonderful. Hanging out on the couch and watching Netflix, meeting up for dinners, having a drink somewhere (I really look forward to that when it can happen again), playing tennis or taking another sports class... everything is possible in the evening. I'm also completely happy. My parents used to find my rhythm quite annoying, by the way. Not being enjoyable in the morning and not wanting to sleep or go to the pub in the evening.

But now — a bit late for that since I've been out of the house for twelve years — I can tell them that I can't help it. I can do absolutely nothing about not wanting to get out of bed, or that I just can't. Because whether you're a morning person or an evening person: it's in your genes. Yes really, and if science says it, you can't argue against it. This has been researched in about 698,000 people, so I think it's a fairly complete study...

And from that complete study came quite clear results. Apparently, there are fifteen locations in your DNA that can indicate that you are a morning person, seven of which are associated with your circadian rhythm. That is your biological rhythm, or your inner clock. Those fifteen locations will clearly not be spotted in me. And from now on, if you're sitting at the breakfast table with a morning mood, you really don't have to say sorry for your behavior. It's in your genes. It's nobody's fault.

Unfortunately, it is true that being a morning person is really healthier for you, because getting up early has a positive effect on your overall condition: night owls are more often troubled by psychological complaints. Depression and schizophrenia are also less common among early birds. It's funny, because just the idea of becoming a morning person sometimes makes me quite psychologically unwell. You really don't have to try, because you can change your own rhythm, but your genes are of course fixed. So don't bother, just blame your DNA.