5 Steps to Take to Become a Morning Person

Every morning at 7 a.m., Jane Walsh rolls out of bed and onto her yoga mat. For the next half an hour — before coffee or breakfast or feeding the cats — she bends and stretches her body.

“It sets the tone for the rest of the day,” says Walsh, 58, who works in public relations in New York City. She’s kept this schedule for as long as she can remember, even in her 20s after late nights out. Without her morning routine, “my mood isn’t as stable, and I don’t feel as good overall,” she says — and when she does sleep in, she feels like she’s missed out on something.

Walsh is what researchers describe as a lark: a person who rises early and is more active in the morning, compared to a night owl who thrives after dark. Everyone has a chronotype, or circadian tendency — a natural inclination to sleep and wake at a certain time. Our internal clock is about 30% to 40% dependent on genetic factors, says Philip Gehrman, a clinical psychologist who directs the Sleep, Neurobiology, and Psychopathology lab at the University of Pennsylvania. However, it’s not a sure bet that “if you have parents who are night owls, you’re definitely going to be a night owl,” he says. Research indicates that your environment, age, and sex also influence your chronotype.

The most extreme larks wake by 5:30 a.m. and go to bed around 8:30 p.m., but even getting up at 7 a.m. qualifies you as being an early riser, sleep experts say. So what if you want to become more of a morning person? People who are die-hard night owls or morning larks will typically have trouble changing their schedule and may require help from a sleep specialist. It’s much like attempting to change how tall you are, says Jennifer Martin, president of the board of directors for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. But the good news is that most people don’t fall on either extreme, she says — and if we want (or need) to start waking up at 5 a.m., that’s an achievable goal.

The health benefits of becoming a morning person

From an evolutionary perspective, it makes sense that we all have different chronotypes. Our cave-sleeping ancestors needed some people to be alert in the evenings, and others in the mornings, says Britney Blair, a clinical psychologist and adjunct faculty member with the Stanford Center for Sleep Sciences and Medicine. That ensured “the tribe was safe throughout the 24-hour period,” she says.

Even though we no longer need to guard against wild beasts that emerge in the wee hours, there’s nothing wrong with being a night owl, Blair says. However, our society tends to reward morning people: “Somehow, if you get up early in the morning, you’re more industrious, and if you get up later, you’re lazy.” That’s not true, of course — someone might simply be more productive at 2 a.m. than at 2 p.m. Such thinking “does a real disservice to folks who are genetically night owls, and they end up carrying that burden,” Blair says.

Still, being an early bird may come with some health benefits. Research has linked the early-bird life to better mental health and a lower likelihood of schizophrenia and depression. Other research has found that morning people tend to be more proactive.

Plus, waking up early is often the only opportunity for some people — like parents — to claim time and space for themselves, says Charissa Chamorro, a New York City-based private clinical psychologist who specializes in anxiety disorders and sleep-related issues. She advises many of her clients to move their mornings earlier.