Having a morning chronotype may reduce the risk of anxiety in men, whereas this protective effect was not observed in women, suggesting the need for sex-specific chronotype-targeted approaches for the prevention and management of anxiety.
Anxiety was more commonly reported by women than men in the study cohort.
The evening chronotype group showed the highest anxiety prevalence across the full cohort.
After adjusting for covariates, men with a morning chronotype showed a significantly lower risk of anxiety compared to men with an intermediate chronotype.
Among women, chronotype was not significantly associated with anxiety risk after covariate adjustment.
Sex differences were observed in the association between chronotype and anxiety.
This research suggests that the relationship between a person's natural sleep-wake preference (chronotype) and anxiety differs between men and women. Using data from nearly 2,900 adults across South Korea, researchers found that women reported anxiety more often than men (12.2% vs. 7.4%), and that people who naturally prefer late nights (evening chronotypes) had the highest overall rates of anxiety at 15.3%. However, when looking at men and women separately, the picture became more nuanced. For men, preferring to wake up early (morning chronotype) was associated with a significantly lower risk of anxiety compared to men with an intermediate chronotype, even after accounting for factors like depression, sleep problems, alcohol use, and smoking. Interestingly, being an evening type did not significantly increase anxiety risk in men compared to intermediate types. For women, however, no significant link between chronotype and anxiety was found at all — morning types were not protected from anxiety in the same way men appeared to be. This research suggests that chronotype and anxiety do not interact the same way for everyone, and that a person's sex may play an important role in this relationship. The findings point toward the potential value of tailoring sleep-timing-based interventions for anxiety prevention or management differently for men and women, though the study's observational design means it cannot establish that changing sleep timing would directly reduce anxiety.
Yum J, Cho S, Ha W, Kim K, Lee W, Chu M. (2026). Sex differences in the association between chronotype and anxiety: A nationwide population study.. Journal of psychiatric research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2026.01.012