Wellness

Are you a night owl? Turn into a morning lark with these top tips

Byforwomenmagazine January 21, 2026January 18, 2026

Transform from a Night Owl to a Morning Person with These Tips

Do you wake up bright and early, ready to take on the world? Or do you find yourself hitting the snooze button after staying up all night?

How to Become a Morning Person

Like most creatures on Earth, humans have a circadian clock, a roughly 24-hour internal timer that keeps our sleep patterns in sync with our planet, at least until genetics, age, and personal habits interfere. Even though the average adult needs eight hours of sleep per night, there are “short sleepers” who need far less, and morning people, who research shows often come from families of other morning people. Then there’s the rest of us, who rely on alarm clocks.

For those who dream of greeting the dawn with a smile, there is hope. With focus, discipline, and patience, you can reset your internal clock. But be warned, it’s not easy. Changing your sleep pattern requires commitment and changing old habits. No more late-night TV marathons.

Changing your internal sleep clock requires inducing a sort of jet lag without leaving your time zone and sticking it out until your body clock resets itself. Most importantly, avoid resetting it again. Here’s how to become more of a morning person:

Set a goal for your wake-up time.
Move your current wake-up time by 20 minutes each day. For example, if you regularly rise at 8 am but want to get up at 6 am, set the alarm for 7:40 am on Monday. On Tuesday, set it for 7:20 am, and so on until you are setting your alarm for 6 am.
Go to bed when you are tired. Avoid extra light exposure from computers or TV screens as you near your bedtime.
When your alarm goes off in the morning, don’t linger in bed. Expose yourself to light—open your shades, turn on the lamp.
Go to bed a little earlier the next night. In theory, you should get sleepy about 20 minutes earlier each night.

A word of warning: While this method works for many, it doesn’t work for all. Very early risers and long-time night owls will find it hard to make a permanent change.

How to Wake Up

If you’re struggling to wake up in the morning, sleep experts suggest a few simple ways to train your body:

Buy a louder alarm: It may sound silly, but if you regularly sleep through your alarm, you may need a different alarm. If you use your phone alarm, change the ringtone and set the volume on high.
Sunlight: One of the most powerful cues to wake up the brain is sunlight. Leaving your blinds open so the sun shines in will help you wake up sooner if you regularly sleep late into the day.
Eat breakfast: Eating breakfast every day will train your body to expect it and help get you in sync with the morning. If you’ve flown across time zones, you’ll notice that airlines often serve scrambled eggs and other breakfast foods to help passengers adjust to the new time zone.
Don’t blow it on the weekend: Besides computer screens, the biggest saboteur for an aspiring morning person is the weekend. Staying up later on Friday or sleeping in on Saturday sends the brain an entirely new set of scheduling priorities, so by Monday, a 6 am alarm may feel like 4 am. It’s tough, but stick to your good sleep habits, even on the weekends.

For more information on sleep health, visit The Sleep Foundation.