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Can a night owl become a morning person?
Summary
Starting the day early can give you dedicated ‘me time’, but making the shift requires some hard work, including sleeping on time
Internet entrepreneur Ankur Warikoo was always a night person. Until 2015, when he decided to spend more time with his young son. Almost 10 years on, he routinely wakes up at 4.30-5am. “The biggest benefit is that you get to do things for yourself before you start doing things for others," he says.
Warikoo’s mornings are busy—meditation, reading, writing, playing tennis, gymming, getting the children ready. “Before I start work at 9.30am, I have had nearly five hours to myself, doing things that I love to do. That sets me up for the day," he says. He goes to bed at 9:30pm.
I get where he’s coming from. As a night owl who owned the graveyard shift, I did a variety of times: 5-11pm, 7pm-2am, 9pm-6am, midnight to 9am. Years later, I find that I have also turned into a lark, up between 5-5.30am, something I never thought was possible. And like Warikoo, I have gifted myself the luxury of dedicated me time.
Also read: 5 effective ways to slow down age-related weight gain
For long, books like Robin Sharma’s The 5 AM Club have extolled the morning miracle—getting up before everyone else and winning the day. From Jennifer Lopez, Jennifer Aniston, Anna Wintour and Gwyneth Paltrow to the Obamas, Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook and Jack Dorsey, global celebrities are part of the #powerhour and #miraclemorning club. In India, Mukesh Ambani, Rajinikanth, Akshay Kumar, P.V. Sindhu and Deepika Padukone swear by the up-at-5am habit.
Dr Elizabeth Klerman, a professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School’s Division of Sleep Medicine, says one is probably born with tendencies to prefer going to sleep earlier in the evening (morning lark) or preferring to sleep later and do more things in the evening (night owl). “In addition, one becomes more ‘evening’ as a child through adolescence and early adulthood, then more morning as one passes early adulthood," she says. But is it possible for a verified night owl to become a morning bird? Psychologists and behavioural sleep medicine specialists say it’s more than possible if you change your sleep schedule.
Hal Elrod, in his best-selling book The Miracle Morning, shares a productivity routine “guaranteed to transform your life" before 8am and set up each day with “more energy, focus, and motivation". His six-step sequence, which he abbreviates as SAVERs, includes silence, affirmations, visualisation, exercise, reading, and scribing, and will “save you from a life of unfulfilled potential".
Experts believe that the human brain is most calm, focused and productive when you wake, which is why beginning your day early—and with an hour (or two) to yourself—helps you kick off a more energised and productive day.
Dr Chris Winter, sleep specialist, neurologist, and host of the Sleep Unplugged podcast, believes that our chronotype is genetically determined. “It can change naturally over time as we age. Most people go from being more night-oriented (delayed circadian phase) to more morning-oriented (advanced)," he says.
Waking up early feels natural to some people, who are at their peak in the early morning hours. In contrast, starting the day at 5am seems repugnant to the night owls, who function best later in the day. But in a world that runs on the 9-to-5 clock, waking up early does have benefits.
“Adjusting schedules can have benefits in relation to our occupations. A night owl can sometimes struggle as a school teacher. A morning-type might not perform well if he is the closing pitcher on a major league baseball team. Having our wakefulness match our period of employment and when we need to be at our best can be helpful to achieve optimal performance," Winter says.
Arundhati Dutta, who works at a visa consultancy service in Ahmedabad, has started getting up an hour earlier, at 5am, than the rest of her family each day. “Getting used to it was tough but I find that I get so much more accomplished, including exercise—something that was always sidelined otherwise," she says.
The biological clock, which determines a person’s circadian rhythms, can’t be changed by adopting a few habits but can make waking up earlier a bit easier. Circadian rhythms are entrained by light, temperature, meals, sleep schedules, exercise, and social interaction. A schedule where these things happen consistently every day is the first step.
Let there be light: Dr Nileena N.K.M., a specialist in psychiatry and sleep medicine at the Chennai-based Nithra Institute of Sleep Sciences, says the best possible way to start feeling awake is to expose yourself to light when you wake up. “I suggest waking the brain up to start mental activity. So, go to a well-lit area, get some morning sunshine, stand in the balcony. Seeing the light will wake your brain up," she suggests.
Exposure to sunlight shuts off the production of melatonin, a hormone that regulates sleep-wake cycles, giving the body a natural wake-up call. Apart from seeing the light, Nileena says one should “not have caffeine or other stimulants after 2pm, and avoid light in the evening, even from computers/screens, unless you use a blue light blocker".
Shift your bedtime: Humans are creatures of habit—we become conditioned to patterns of behaviour through repetition of certain cues and responses. Considering the time you want to wake up, identify a target bedtime that allows for at least seven hours of sleep.
“Habits and cues that promote sleep make it easier to fall asleep quickly and stay asleep through the night. Repetition reinforces the routine," Nileena says. “To trick the body into thinking it’s time to wind down, avoid sunlight in the evening and cut back drastically on gadget use as the blue light signals to the body that it’s still daytime. Melatonin supplements can also help," she says.
Warikoo says becoming a morning person is 100% possible. “But it starts with a very important realisation. Waking up early is not about waking up early. It is about sleeping on time."
Get a good night’s sleep: Improve your sleep hygiene to improve the quality of your sleep. Optimise the bedroom environment: invest in good quality bedding, minimise external noise, outside light, and artificial light, and maintain a comfortable temperature.
Daily exercise is beneficial to health and promotes solid sleep. Dutta says that getting to bed earlier became easier after she incorporated a couple of relaxation techniques before bed. “I practise a couple of yoga poses and deep breathing; it helps get me into bedtime mode and sleep better."
Warikoo shares his 3/2/1 method to get enough shuteye: “Stop all food 3 hours before sleeping, stop all social media and apps 2 hours before sleeping, and settle into down-time mode an hour before sleeping—maybe read, listen to soft music, turn off the lights," he says.
Ensure routine regularity: A 2024 study in the journal Sleep associates consistent bedtimes and wake times with improved outcomes “across multiple dimensions of health and performance—including alertness, cardiovascular and metabolic health, inflammation and mental health".
A consistent sleep routine aligns with the biological clock, helping with productivity and overall feelings of well-being. “A consistent sleep schedule includes weekends and holidays. If you’re waking up early during the week, try to wake up at most a couple of hours later on the weekends to avoid upsetting your schedule," Nileena says.
Dutta finds that sticking to a regular schedule “makes it easier for me to sleep and wake; it reduces the amount of time I lay in bed trying to fall asleep or tossing and turning."
Take small steps: Waking up even half an hour earlier so you’re not rushing out the door makes your mornings easier and ensures that you’re more likely to stay the course.
Nileena suggests thinking about waking up early like a skill that needs to be practised regularly and incrementally.
Warikoo agrees that small steps helped him reach his wake-up goal. “It took me nearly four years of systematically getting up 10 minutes early every three weeks to get to the waking time that I have today," he says, adding that his body attuned to the shift as it wasn’t sudden.
Teja Lele writes on travel and lifestyle.
