How Can “Night Owls” Learn to Get up Early, Energized, and Motivated?

Adopting an early morning routine is tricky because being a “night owl” or a “morning lark” is programmed in our DNA.

Some of the most successful people are early birds.

LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner wakes up at 5.30 am. Apple’s Tim Cook writes his first emails at 4:45 am. Apparently, 50% of self-made millionaires and 90% executives get up before 6 am.

But I struggled to adopt an early morning routine all my life.

As a scientist, tech entrepreneur, and former top-management consultant, I never regarded myself lazy or undisciplined. But waking up at 6 am has always been pure torture.

To find out what was “wrong” with me, I sent my DNA to a German company specialized in chronobiology. My report revealed that I belonged to 30% of the world’s population of “night-owls:” people genetically programmed to stay up late and snooze through their mornings.

But the worst part: my DNA report also showed that if I continue getting up too early, I may develop heart disease, mental disorders, and even cancer.

Clearly, the early morning routine was shortening my life.

So I started looking for ways to get up early, motivated, and energized without risks for my health.

Being a Morning Person Isn’t Your Free Choice

Our inner biological clock controls when we feel awake and sleepy.

It is a highly complex mechanism developed over millions of years of evolution that controls the delicate balance of hormones in our body governing our life over 24 hours.

But a few years ago, scientists made a surprising discovery: our inner clock is controlled mainly by our DNA. Therefore, changing our wake-sleep cycle becomes extremely difficult without consequences for our health.

So, telling a night owl to live a life of a morning lark is like teaching a cat to fly. And when the cat fails, others call it lazy and undisciplined.

That’s so unfair and cruel.

Why Did Nature Create Night Owls?

Tens of thousands of years ago, our ancestors lived in tribes.

Scientists believe that if the entire tribe went to bed simultaneously, no one would be left to watch for deadly predators at night. So, a saber tooth tiger could attack the tribe unnoticed.

Fortunately, a few early humans could stay awake late at night. In the sight of danger, they would wake their fellow tribesmen and tribeswomen. These “night-owls” were the nocturnal guardian angels who helped our species survive.

The world has changed, but the night owls remain. Their genes are still passed on from generation to generation.

Night Owls Have Higher Health Risks

Our society is dominated by morning larks, who comprise about 40% of the world’s population.

This explains why my kids are expected to be in school at 7:45 am, and I am expected in my first conference call at 8:30 am.

But for night owls, this world clock is a constant struggle. Not because they are lazy or undisciplined. Their bodies start producing the sleep hormone melatonin too late, keeping them awake and focused until late hours.

The social pressure to get up early leaves owls chronically sleep-deprived.

Studies confirm that night-owls have a higher risk of developing diabetes, heart disease, and even cancer. Owls often suffer from depression, perform worse than larks in school, and earn 4–5% less than morning larks. Eventually, night owls end up living shorter lives.

So blindly following the premise “The early bird gets the worm” is unproductive, dangerous, and unhealthy for night owls.

But there is also good news, so read on.

How Did I Trick My Biological Clock?

What happens when you travel from LA to New York?

After arriving, you will suffer from jet lag while your body adapts to the new time zone. You won’t fall asleep early, and you will have a hard time waking up early in the morning. But after a week or two, your body fully adapts to the new time zone.

Our bodies can adjust to different time zones with the help of special cells in our eyes called ipRGCs (photosensitive ganglia cells). These special cells, discovered in the 1990s, have no function for our vision. Their only purpose is to tell our inner clock when it’s daytime and nighttime.

So our bodies evolved to reset our inner clock with the help of light.

The ipRGCs are particularly sensitive to blue light. In the evening, when the sun turns orange in the dusky sky, we naturally feel tired. In the absence of blue light, our brains produce melatonin and prepare our bodies for sleep.

We can use this effect to shift our inner clock.

I use special glasses that block 98% of blue light, which I got from amazon for 50 bucks.

I wear these glasses three hours before my desired bedtime. By the time I go to bed, I feel relaxed, tired, and sleepy. When I wake up early in the morning, I feel energized, motivated, and refreshed.

It’s a simple, inexpensive trick, but it worked wonders for me.

Where to Go From Here

For a night owl, it’s tough to live in a world dominated by morning larks.

If you are a night owl in a lucky position to go to bed at 2 am and wake up at 10 am and still be successful, then go for it. It will most likely prolong your life.

But if you need to wake up early every day, then you might want to try wearing blue-light-blocking glasses in the evening.

However, these glasses didn’t make me a “morning lark.” I was born a “night-owl,” and I will likely die as one because it’s in my DNA. But they help me feel great, stay productive, and live a fulfilled and healthy life with my family (my wife and one of my sons are morning larks).

If you want to know your genetic chronotype, the Charité University in Berlin can help you find out using a few strands of your hair. Doing this test helped me understand and accept who I am.