According to a small report, the people who sleep late at night or go to bed late have less control over their obsessive thoughts. Meredith Coles, Professor of Psychology at Binghamton University, State University of New York says, “We find that there are specific negative consequences of sleeping at the wrong times, that’s something to educate the public about.”

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is an anxiety disorder characterized by uncontrollable, unwanted thoughts and repetitive and ritualized behaviors, if you have OCD, you probably recognize that your obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors are irrational—but even so, you feel unable to resist them and break free.

The researchers kept in look 20 individuals diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and 10 individual with OCD- like symptoms with one week of sleep. Sleep dairies and daily ratings of control degree over obsessive thoughts and ritualized thoughts were observed.

After the observation, the researchers found out that individual’s control over their obsessive thoughts and compulsion behavior can be easily predicted by their previous night’s bedtime.  “We’re really interested in how this kind of unusual timing of sleep might affect cognitive functioning,” said Jessica Schubert from University of Michigan Medical School.

“One possibility is impulse control. It might be that something about shifting the timing of your sleep might reduce your ability to control your thoughts and your behaviours. So it might make it more likely that you’re going to have a hard time dismissing intrusive thoughts, a characteristic of obsessions, and it might make it more difficult for you to refrain from compulsive behaviours that are designed to reduce the anxiety caused by obsessive thoughts,” Schubert added.