Changes in the brain during the nighttime hours can make a person more likely to view the world negatively, engage in harmful behavior, and make impulsive decisions, according to the researchers.
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"The basic idea is that from a high level, global, evolutionary standpoint, your internal biological circadian clock is tuned towards processes that promote sleep, not wakefulness, after midnight," Dr. Elizabeth Klerman, PhD, senior author of the paper and an investigator in the Department of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital, said in the statement.
When adjusting for the number of people who are awake at any given time, suicides are statistically more likely to occur during the nighttime hours, according to a 2016 There are some obvious reasons why these issues occur more frequently at night, according to the researchers. Mainly, it’s easier to get away with crimes under the cover of darkness, and there are fewer people awake at night to step in and help.
From an evolutionary perspective, humans were better hunter-gatherers during the day, while they were more at risk of threats at night. This means the brain evolved to produce a narrowed focus on negative stimuli at night to cope with these perceived threats from predators. In the paper, the team noted two examples to highlight how these conditions can lead to "catastrophic outcomes," the first being a heroin user who successfully manages their cravings during the day but caves at night, and "a single impulsive decision leads to a relapse."
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