Since society is built around a morning oriented schedule it stands to reason that late sleepers feel left behind during the day.

Overall, early risers are happier.

Scientists are not sure if the feelings of happiness are the result of rest, exposure to light or the body’s bio-chemical response to sleep.

By age 60, most people are morning types, the researchers found. Only about 7 percent of young adults are morning larks, but as the population ages, this switches — in the older years only about 7 percent of the population are still night owls.
“We found that older adults reported greater positive emotion than younger adults, and older adults were more likely to be morning-type people than younger adults,” Biss said. “The ‘morningness’ was associated with greater happiness emotions in both age groups.”