Changing from a night owl to an early bird 'only takes a few weeks'

Author: Press Association

“Night owls” can retrain their body clocks within as little as three weeks to help them become earlier risers, a study has suggested.

Simple tweaks to the sleeping patterns of those who are habitually late to bed could significantly improve a person’s wellbeing, according to researchers.

​Those who participated in the study reported feeling less stressed and depressed, as well as less sleepy during the day.

The research, by the universities of Birmingham and Surrey, and Monash University in Australia, involved 22 “night owls”, whose internal body clocks dictated later-than-usual sleep and wake times.

Their average bedtime was 2.30am, with a wake-up time of 10.15am.

For a period of three weeks, the participants were asked to bring forward their sleep and wake times by two to three hours, keep the timings fixed on working days and days off and get plenty of sunshine in the mornings.

They were also told to eat breakfast as soon as possible after waking up, eat lunch at the same time each day and eat dinner no later than 7pm.
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