Respond to prefers-color-scheme dark in app web views

Follow section front redirects in Spectrum

Enable NLP source in PCS for load testing

Switch off the News Alerts Survey Widget when we have enough responses

Poll to determine if new LUF updates are available

Allows the winning A/B test variant to be turned on without Spectrum deployment

Show infinite scrolling sections in Assembler MultiView

Show option for NLP article summaries in Action Bar

Show NLP summaries collection recirc on article pages

A general feature flag for Recipe Features that aren't yet released

Feature flag for media team features that aren't yet released

Use new Orca video player for preroll plugin in Spectrum

Show the snow tracker (instead of the heat tracker) on Spectrum

Ask Amy: I want to be closer with my brother. He never reaches out to me.

Miss Manners: I’m offended by a golfer’s skirt choice

Carolyn Hax: Family pushes siblings to ‘make amends’ after their mother’s death

Middle East conflict live updates: WHO says health services in south Gaza will run out of fuel in three days

Commerce Department revokes more export licenses to China’s Huawei

U.S. signals optimism for Gaza cease-fire as Israel moves into Rafah 

‘Look at the U.S.A.’: A photographer’s reflection on post-9/11 conflict

How Trump’s allies amplify his Truth Social messages to the wider world

In photos: The scene after tornadoes struck Michigan and Oklahoma 

RFK Jr’s ‘history lesson’ on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine flunks the fact test

Election 2024 latest news: Biden back in the battleground state of Wisconsin

In court, Stormy Daniels pulled a Trump on Trump 

France tries to shed its rude reputation ahead of the Olympics

Don’t be a jerk at the airport: A guide for headphones

The new cure-all for vacation excess: the IV drip 

Nats go over .500 the hard way by beating the O’s and Corbin Burnes

A look at what has changed since the Nationals were last above .500

Baseball can crush rookies. Why hasn’t it crushed Trey Lipscomb?

A college professor wants to use Section 230 against Big Tech

Apple plays up AI potential in new iPads

In Arizona, election workers trained with deepfakes to prepare for 2024

Social Security has to be fixed. But you still need your own savings.

An I bond is now at 4.28 percent. Are they still a good deal?

Use these 6 points to say no to a college you and your kid can’t afford

The Trump-Biden battle over the 2017 tax cut

That time football legend, rig-driving eligible bachelor Biden was arrested

The FTC’s noncompete clause rule goes too far

The next global crisis could come from the sun. We should prepare now.

The crisis Biden and Trump don’t want to deal with

Postal worker finds WWII-era letters, drives 5 hours to deliver them

Strangers help Sesame Street puppeteer after heirloom necklace was stolen

Teen grabs wheel when driver passes out and school bus veers into traffic

US-VOTE-POLITICS-ECONOMY-BIDEN

Bart Maat

Do you find it easy to wake up early? You may have Neanderthals in your ancestry.

A study <a href="https://academic.oup.com/gbe/article/15/12/evad203/7457904?searchresult=1" target=_blank>published </a>this week in Genome Biology and Evolution has found that Neanderthal DNA remains in some present-day humans and may determine whether someone is naturally an early riser.

Neanderthals are our closest extinct human relative, according to the Smithsonian’s <a href="https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/species/homo-neanderthalensis" target=_blank>National Museum of Natural History</a>, and had defining physical features such as larger noses, angled cheek bones and stockier bodies. They were known to use sophisticated tools, control fire, be skilled in hunting, wear clothing and live in shelters.

“We found that Neanderthal DNA that remains in modern humans due to interbreeding has a significant and directional effect on modern humans,” study co-author <a href="http://www.capralab.org/people/" target=_blank>Tony Capra</a>, an associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California at San Francisco, wrote in an email. “In particular, the Neanderthal DNA that associates with chronotype consistently increases propensity to be a morning person.”

As the ancestors of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2018/08/22/mom-was-neanderthal-dad-was-something-else-entirely-meet-strangest-hybrid-human-history/" target="_blank">Eurasians</a> — who now range in location from the British Isles to the mountains of Siberia — began to migrate out of Africa about 70,000 years ago, they were exposed to new environments at higher latitudes with more varied seasons, temperatures and levels of light exposure, the study said.

Those arriving to Eurasia interbred with the existing population, “initially with Neanderthals” and later with other ancestors such as Denisovans, who are now extinct, the study said. This created the potential for humans to gain genetic variants already adapted to these new environments.

“In higher latitudes there is more seasonal variation in light/dark cycles over the course of the year than in more equatorial latitudes,” Capra wrote.

It was “not immediately clear why increased morningness would be beneficial at higher latitudes,” though the study found that in present-day humans, “behavioral morningness” is linked to “a quickened pace of the circadian gene network,” which could be an advantage.

The discovery could help people better understand their sleep patterns today, as shift work and a reliance on screens and other technology can affect our innate sleeping habits.

Can tech help you reset your internal clock? Here’s what to consider.

Our circadian rhythms are a natural guide for the body through the 24-hour cycle. They tell us when it’s time to eat, sleep and wake up.

They are “intrinsic” rhythms that adapt the biology of animals and plants to the Earth’s light-and-dark cycle, and are “regulated by a central circadian clock which is entrained to the environment” through light exposure, said <a href="https://www.surrey.ac.uk/people/simon-n-archer" target=_blank>Simon Archer</a>, a professor of molecular biology of sleep at Britain’s University of Surrey.

Often when people have <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2022/11/03/insomnia-tips-better-sleep/" target=_blank>difficulties sleeping</a> or staying awake, it’s because their circadian rhythms have gotten off-kilter because of health issues — including stress, depression, anxiety and hyperthyroidism —  or shift work or travel.

Changes such as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/interactive/2022/permanent-standard-time-body-health-benefits/" target=_blank>daylight saving time</a> can also affect circadian rhythms, with bodies losing an hour of early-morning sunlight, which experts say is key to maintaining our sleep-wake cycles and overall health.

Sleep issues can lead to changes to metabolism and immunity that have been linked to <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23899601/#:~:text=Mounting%20evidence%20indicates%20that%20disruption,mood%20disorders%2C%20and%20learning%20deficits." target=_blank>health problems</a> including cancer, heart disease and fatigue.

Some new <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/02/05/lighting-technology-circadian-clock/" target="_blank">technologies </a>such as special masks, glasses, heart sensors and apps have been developed to help with these issues.

Sleep problems can increase as you age. These tips can help.

In this study, the researchers defined a set of 246 circadian-related genes and found hundreds of genetic variants with the potential to influence the circadian clock. Using artificial intelligence to analyze the genetic variants, they found it was possible that some humans could have obtained circadian variants from Neanderthals.

To test this, the researchers utilized a large cohort of several hundred thousand people, using the United Kingdom’s <a href="https://www.ukbiobank.ac.uk/learn-more-about-uk-biobank/about-us" target=_blank>Biobank,</a> a biomedical database. The study found “that these variants consistently increase morningness,” according to a <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1010485" target=_blank>statement </a>about the study.

“I’m sure no one would have predicted that we’d actually see genetic evidence that some of us really are morning people,” <a href="https://www.ndph.ox.ac.uk/team/naomi-allen" target=_blank>Naomi Allen</a>, professor in epidemiology at the UK Biobank wrote in an email. The findings come from “half a million volunteers sharing their de-identified genetic data, and researchers from around the world approaching it with such interesting questions,” she said of the collaboration.

A lot of our genetic ancestry from Neanderthals “was not beneficial and removed by natural selection,” the study said, but some aspects remain in human populations today and possibly “show evidence of adaptation.”

“The propensity to be a morning person could have been evolutionarily beneficial for our ancestors living in higher latitudes in Europe and thus would have been a Neanderthal genetic characteristic worth preserving,” the study said.

Having Neanderthal DNA in some parts of our genome may provide benefits such as in our immune systems, metabolism, and hair and skin, Capra wrote.

“We don’t think that being a morning person is actually what is beneficial, but that this is actually a signal of having a circadian clock that is more adaptable to changing light levels,” he said. “Having a faster-running clock also leads to rising earlier.”

“At higher latitudes it is beneficial to have a clock that is more flexible and better able to change to match the variable seasonal light levels,” he added.

“Intercrossing Sapiens may in some cases have obtained advantages,” for example, “allowing them to live in higher [latitudes] as shown here, but obviously also other advantages not examined in this study,” wrote <a href="https://biopsyk.dk/people/" target=_blank>Thomas Werge</a>, a professor of clinical medicine at the University of Copenhagen and director of the Institute of Biological Psychiatry at the Copenhagen University Hospital, in an email.

Archer said that the study was “very interesting” but “perhaps not too surprising,” as “circadian clocks are an ancient evolutionary adaptation found in almost all organisms studied,” and that it would make sense that an “adaptive advantage” was selected and retained by our ancestors.

DNA may tell other stories such as variants that make some people <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/04/21/how-to-sleep-earlier/" target=_blank>sleep or wake later</a> than others, Archer said: “For primates and our ancestors this may have provided a selective advantage in that not everyone is asleep at the same time.”

But, Archer said, in modern society “if you are an evening person there are potential associated risk factors” such as sleep deprivation, negative health, exposure to too much artificial light and poor diet.

But having traces of Neanderthal DNA is just one element that may determine your sleeping habits.

Capra clarified that “being a morning person is a very complex trait,” and hundreds of different genes as well as environmental and culture factors “strongly influence” it. “There are plenty of morning people who don’t have any of these Neanderthal variants!”

<i>Matt Fuchs and Marlene Cimons contributed to this report.</i>

Sign up for the Well+Being newsletter, your source of expert advice and simple tips to help you live well every day

Social Impact Media Award winner (SIMA), 2020

Religion Newswriters Association, Handa Fellow, 2016.

 Women’s International Leadership Scholar, 2016.

School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, LLB Law

Columbia University, MS in Journalism

Adela Suliman is a breaking-news reporter in The Washington Post's London hub. 

Adela Suliman

Are you a morning person? You may have Neanderthal ancestors.

the-washington-post

NETHERLANDS-SCIENCE-HUMAN-NEANDERTHAL-MUSEUM

Contributor

AFP/Getty Images

A graphic illustration of a Neanderthal with the headline: Are you a morning person? You may be a Neanderthal descendant.

Bart Maat/AFP/Getty Images

The Washington Post

Are you a morning person? You may be a Neanderthal descendant.

Food

Fitness

Mind

Body

Life

Well+Being

washpost

Well+Being Body

Well+Being: Physical Health

Stories about health disparities, disabilities and keeping an active lifestyle from The Washington Post’s Well+Being section.

Well+Being from The Washington Post covers healthy living, including nutrition, fitness, mental health, relationships, chronic illness and disability.