A simple tweak in sleep for night owls

NIGHT owls can retrain themselves in just three weeks to wake up two hours earlier and still get the same amount of sleep, a Melbourne study has found.

A Monash University trial has found that resetting sleep habits also reduced stress, depression and morning sleepiness, while shifting peak cognitive and physical performance to earlier in the day.

Simple tweaks to the timing of exercise and meals, maximising light exposure in the mornings and keeping strict sleep and wake times every day helped people whose body clocks were inherently wired to go to bed after midnight to bring their body clocks more in line with the 9-5 working day.

Lead researcher Elise Facer-Childs, of Monash’s Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, said while those who went to bed late were often deemed lazy and unproductive, there were biological and environmental factors that made some people feel better at night.

“There are really clear biological, hormonal, physiological and genetic differences between morning larks and night owls,” Dr Facer-Childs said.

“When you are chopping and changing your schedule to go against your biological rhythm, that’s been linked to a lot of health problems.

“Night owls tend to compromised by society.”

Dr Facer-Childs said the study tested whether simple sleep hygiene changes, not medications, could change sleep habits over three weeks. Night owls who followed the schedule — people typically going to bed at 2.45am before the study — could fall asleep at 1am and wake at 8.30am, getting their 7.5 hours of slumber.

Their peak cognitive and physical performance also shifted from 8pm to 3pm for grip strength, and to noon for reaction times. be