How can I adjust my “night owl” schedule to that of an “early bird”?
Q: I am a “night owl” and my husband is “an early bird.” However, for twenty years I have tried to adjust to his schedule of “early to bed, early to rise” with limited success. Do you have any suggestions?
A. The best way to “convert” your internal clock is to adjust your exposure to light at different points during the day and stick to a regular bed/rise schedule. It’s important to remember that adjusting to a bedtime that is against your nature is possible, but sometimes adaptation can take its toll on your sleep health and your daytime productivity.
The truth is, night owls are literally wired to stay up late. Night owls have a higher resistance to “sleep pressure,” which manifests as feelings of fatigue and sleepiness as the day draws on. Morning larks go downhill in the early afternoon as their circadian rhythm dips, whereas night owls really don’t reach the peak in focus and concentration until late in the afternoon or even later.
Still, there are a couple tactics that can make your “forced early bird” sleep schedule easier:
- Go to bed the same time every night and wake up at the same time every morning. If you only do it Monday – Thursday, and then start staying up late Friday – Sunday, you are not doing a service to your sleep health. Keep it regular.
- Get some morning sun. The most important thing is to expose yourself to sunlight as early as possible, as this will help reset your circadian rhythms. When you wake up, take a half-hour walk.
- Dim the lights at night. In the evenings, don’t expose yourself to bright light via computer monitors or television: especially monitor lights in the blue spectrum. Instead, warm, low-level lights will help you get ready for sleep more quickly, triggering an earlier release of the sleep hormone melatonin.
If you need a little extra boost after all that, you can also try taking melatonin to nudge your circadian rhythm a little more. Be aware that melatonin, while unregulated in the US, is a controlled substance in many other countries.
As always, it’s important to remember that everyone’s sleep needs and schedule are different. What’s more important is how you feel in the morning and throughout the day. If you’re still sleepy and sluggish during the day after becoming a “lark”, it might be time to reassess your sleep patterns and needs.
Related Articles:
- How does light impact our Circadian rhythm?
- Melatonin ain’t candy
- How can I train myself to sleep at night instead of during the day?
- How to go from night owl to early bird in 1 fell swoop
- To Be(nzo) or not To Be(nzo): A tempered approach to sleeping pills
- What is the best sleep schedule for people who work rotating shifts?
Still have questions? Ask them here!
Back to the Archive
