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Abstract
Human chronotype, the timing of daily behaviors, is influenced by season of birth and ageing. However, ageing and season of birth influences individuals differently. In this study, we investigated if genetic diversity may explain the heterogeneity in ageing-related change of sleep timing and season of birth effect on later-life chronotype. We found that season of birth may program chronotype in adulthood in a subgroup of people that carry specific genotypes. We also found that genetic variants that are related to epigenetic regulations and DNA repair may be associated with susceptibility towards age-dependent variations of sleep timing. These genetic variants may prove useful as biomarkers for healthy ageing and provide new targets for prediction, diagnosis and treatment sleep problems in older adults.