Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man DIE.

This just in: Getting up early can kill you dead. Apparently, this study showed a correlation between early rising and cardiovascular problems. So, from now on, I don't sleep late -- I sleep healthy.

Note: I'm going to call BS on this study for two reasons. First, the study also found that, of the early risers in the study sample, most of them were older adults. Since the sample ages ranged from 23 to 90, the term "older" in this study skews even further along the lifespan than it would normally. And what also correlates with being an older adult? Ah, yes: heart disease and high blood pressure. So maybe it's getting old that kills you, not getting up early.

Second, this study was done by hospitals and universities in Kyoto, Japan. Who gets up early in Kyoto, Japan? University students (probably grad students, because of the sample starting age of 23) and the famous Japanese salarymen: two demographics who cope with some of the highest levels of stress in the world, especially the salarymen: the highest suicide rate in Japan is among men 40 to mid-60s, and their motives are usually job-related. In other words, rising early may not be a cause of health problems, but a behavioral indicator of a high stress lifestyle which causes health problems. My verdict is that this study is probably a case of the post hoc fallacy: assuming that, since Event B follows Event A, Event A must have caused Event B. It's a popular fallacy, and especially easy for scientists to fall into, I think. And journalists.