For some people, finishing work does not mean switching off. Emails, unfinished tasks, and tomorrow's deadlines can continue running through their minds long after they have left the office.

New research suggests that your natural sleep-wake pattern could play a role in how easily you recover from the working day and in your vulnerability to anxiety and other mental health problems.

The study, published in Sleep Health, looked at 2,266 working-age adults in Finland, with an average age of 44. About 57% of participants were women. Researchers classified them as morning, intermediate, or evening types based on their natural circadian preferences.

Why 'Night Owls' May Struggle to Switch Off

Evening types, often described as 'night owls', naturally tend to feel more alert later in the day and prefer later sleeping and waking times. Morning types, meanwhile, tend to be more comfortable with earlier schedules.

The researchers found that evening types reported more difficulties with work-life balance, including greater work spillover into their personal lives and poorer recovery after work.

Mental health problems were particularly pronounced among people with an extreme evening chronotype. These participants were more likely to report symptoms and diagnoses related to anxiety and depression than the morning types.

The researchers also looked at whether lifestyle differences could explain the findings. Evening types generally had less healthy behaviours, but these differences did not fully account for the relationship between evening chronotype, work-life balance, and mental health.

The Importance of Recovering From Work

One of the study's most important findings was the role of recovery. Recovering from work means more than simply stopping your tasks at the end of the day. It involves mentally detaching from work and restoring the energy needed for the next day.

The researchers found that poor recovery from work partly explained the association between an evening chronotype and anxiety disorders. Work spilling over into personal life also appeared to play a role, particularly among people with moderate and definite evening chronotypes.

This could help explain why some people find conventional working hours particularly difficult. If your natural rhythm leans towards later hours but your working day starts early, you may have less opportunity to work and rest according to your biological preferences.

However, the findings do not mean that being a night owl causes anxiety. This was a population-based observational study, meaning it identified associations rather than proving that an evening chronotype directly leads to anxiety or depression. Other factors may also contribute to the relationship.

What Can You Do if You Struggle to Switch Off?

If work regularly follows you into your evenings, creating a clearer boundary between work and personal time may help.

That could mean setting a firm time to stop checking work messages, avoiding work-related tasks immediately before bed, or developing a consistent wind-down routine after finishing for the day.

Where possible, flexible working hours could also allow employees with later chronotypes to align their schedules more closely with their natural rhythms. The researchers suggest that workplace measures designed to improve work-life balance and recovery could be particularly useful for people who are more vulnerable to the effects of work-related demands.

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