DEATH then, that's what it's come to.

I had a look for the first time I'd written about the pitfalls and perils of being a night owl.

If you are a fellow late sleeper, you'll know exactly what I mean: that we are scorned as idle and undisciplined. That our curmudgeonly morning persona is a source of mockery. We are figures of fun.

It was 2011, the first column, and I suggested nap pods in offices and staggered start times to accommodate what seemed obvious - our sleeping patterns are beyond our control.

Smug larks whitter on about early bed times and strict routines. There are mornings where the alarm goes and I literally cannot open my eyes, despite having gone to bed nine hours before. Sleep seems a thing completely outwith my control and the alarm clock an enemy.

Try talking to me about routines on one of those mornings. Go on. Dare you.

In 2013 I wrote about university researchers carrying out studies related to a gene known as Period-3, which dictates our sleep chronotype - whether we are an owl or a lark. Owls were found to be fatter, more stressed and suffering more readily from depression and anxiety.

They were more likely to steal your spouse. To be narcissists. But there, the point, that sleep patterns are in our genes.

In 2015 Oxford University researchers backed me up on my split start times suggestion: circadian rhythms can be no more controlled than your heartbeat and so night owls should be permitted to arrive later at the office.

Now, 2018, and the University of Surrey and Northwestern Medicine, in Chicago, say night owls are 10 per cent higher risk of dying than larks. That escalated quickly - from laziness to personality disorders to death.

This pitfall, though, the early demise, could be correlation or causation - no one seems sure yet. "There are a whole variety of unhealthy behaviours related to being up late in the dark by yourself,” said co-lead author Kristen Knutson, associate professor of neurology at Northwestern.

"Up late in the dark by yourself" sounds so much more romantic than "up at a reasonable hour with breakfast". I spend a lot of time up late in the dark by myself but it's far from romantic. I'm usually working because I am most alert then. Others are drinking, smoking, eating too much. Unhealthy habits that shave off the years.

Sleep seems the latest trend in health concerns. We've been told the British economy loses £40 billion a year due to sleep deprivation. We have been reliably informed that lack of sleep is linked to dementia, heart disease, obesity, depression, and on.

Another, lesser reported study this week, said the average child in Glasgow is only getting eight hours or sleep, rather than the recommended 11. Almost 50 per cent of the adult population is trying to get by on six or fewer hours of sleep a night when we should be ensuring we have eight.

It's hard to carve out the time for eight hours of rest, our modern lifestyle isn't cut out for it. Our chronically busy lives mean we need to make more time in the day and so sleep is the first thing to go.

We are tethered to our work by the invisible bind of smart phones and email, meaning there is no clear demarcation between time for productivity and time to relax. Precarious work, such as zero hours, means a lack of routine.

Scientists have used the words "public health crisis" to describe our collective sleep-deprivation. Public health crisis suggests the government should step in. Official sleep guidelines, GPs prescribing sleeping.

That sounds far-fetched and sensible all at once. Imagine the benefits of a well-rested populace and a shift from viewing sleep as a vice to a virtue.

It can't be long before one of these studies serves as a wake-up call.