but I think it's bunk. I have never, even when having to be at work early for years on end, developed into a morning person. I'm lucky my current boss is pretty understanding and I can somewhat set my hours with the exception of critical meetings within reason...i.e. 9 or 9:30 start vs. 8.

The years I had to physically be at work at 8 sucked. Grouchy, tired, never felt like I had enough sleep even if I went to sleep early, which I could rarely do because my body just is not tired before midnight, usually more like 2:00 a.m.

No matter how early I get up I can't even begin to go to bed before midnight but I try to get in by 1:30.

And I can't get up early to save my life most days.

Fortunately, my boss once deemed me so useful that he created a new shift so I'd quit coming in late. "Well what time CAN you get here?" "I dunno - 10:00? 10:30?"..."Fine. Come in then then...I guess now we have a mid-shift"

Been here almost 15 years now lol

And they created a loyal employee - there is virtually nothing I would't do for my boss.

As long as I can do it after 10:00am.

but probably not everyone.

My sleep cycle changes from time to time. During the change, it sucks but once I have adjusted to a particular cycle I am ok.

My ideal time for getting up is between 7 and 8 am.

I am just not an early morning person. At all.

OTOH, I can't sleep till 9 am or later, either.


Times when I've had to get up earlier, yes I can do it, but I'm definitely not at my best.

I did recently read that night owls tend to be more intelligent so I've got that going for me.

During a loooong stretch of unemployment, I was sleeping until between 10 and 11 every day. For years. I got sick of it and force-fixed it with an alarm clock and eventually (within about six months or so?) I was waking up happy before 7 every day without the help of an alarm.

Note: There's a lot of things you can fix if you have all day every day to do it.

My two cents is that if you want to change to a morning person, try making the change in the spring or summer.
I'm generally a morning person but still find it very hard to get up in the morning in the winter. The lack of sunlight really affects me.

and going to college full-time, I'd get up at around 4a.m. every morning to study. I did this for over 5 years. A few years after I graduated ( I was in my 40's), I was offered a wonderful job by one of the most awesome bosses I've ever had. The only drawback was the hours were for 1p.m. - 10p.m. I have always believed and been helped by hypnosis. So I went to the lady I'd gone to for other situations and it worked fantastically. Now my schedule is sometimes early and sometimes late and I'm okay with both.

When you go to bed, tell yourself you're going to wake up at 5:15 and feel good. When you wake up, before getting out of bed, spend a couple of minutes telling yourself you're excited to start the day and it's going to be a good one.

Might take a few weeks to re-program yourself and you;ll have to fake it until you make it, but it works. I'm speaking from experience. I don't even use an alarm anymore.

As for liking it, I don't know.

I've always been a night person, liked staying up late, sleeping late. The first time I could set my own schedule, I was doing an independent study project and had my own office - I worked all night, left when the cleaning crew arrived at 6 AM, ate breakfast, went to sleep, got up for dinner, and went to work. I loved it!

When we ran our farm, though I had to get up early to feed the horses and in the summer so I could get the worst chores done before it got too hot. Spring was my favorite season because I had to go out at night to check on the mares and could use that as an excuse for never getting enough sleep. Although my biological clock adjusted so much to getting up early I didn't need an alarm clock - and couldn't sleep late on the days I didn't have to get up - I still could not go to sleep before midnight - and if I did, I'd wake up at 3 AM and not be able to go back to sleep for hours.

Since I've retired and have no schedule to adhere to, I've found that my deepest sleep is between 4 AM and noon. If I didn't have to work around other schedules (my husband's, businesses, my friends') I would be so much more alert and productive if I could stay with that sleep schedule. I wake up faster and can get started faster if I can sleep those hours regularly.

Which is a big part of why I do not work in hi-tech.