‘Night Owls’ can turn themselves into ‘Morning larks’ through training and increased exposure to the morning sun, according to Professor Luke O’Neill.

The Trinity Professor was speaking after a new study found that circadian rhythms around the world may be linked to genetics.

The study examined 50,000 people and found that, while some people are ‘extreme’ morning or night people – the vast majority are somewhere in the middle.

Night Owl

He said there is a serious side to the debate – with evidence to suggest that night owls are more likely to have Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, depression and anxiety.

“So, in other words, being a night owl might be bad for your health,” he said.

“Now, of course, one reason might be that your diet is worse at night – you might be eating junk food or something like that late at night.

“You know, that might increase your risk of things like heart disease, but it does look as if that night owl constitution is slightly more damaging for some reason and hence it can be quite serious.

“Meanwhile, the sunlight in the morning seems to be beneficial for some reason – it decreases risk of these things.

“So, the earlier you get up, the more benefit you can get from the natural daylight is one thing that's being explored.”

Morning Lark

Prof O’Neill said there are several tricks to change your body clock.

“The first thing, most importantly, is of course trying to set your alarm clock and if you set your alarm clock five or 10 minutes earlier every morning, you gradually shift to an earlier chronotype,” he said.

“Of course, you wake up then and the sun is there and that daylight then begins to set the clock.

“You set your whole body clock to be earlier by simply waking up slightly earlier day by day and after about a week or two, if you do this properly, you will now be able to wake up at that earlier time naturally – and now you're becoming a morning person.

“So that's the first thing, to set your alarm clock to be slightly earlier.”

Body Clock

Prof O’Neill’s second trick is a psychological one.

“When you when you wake up, instead of pressing the snooze button, countdown 3-2-1 and get up out of bed,” he said.

“Programme yourself to do the countdown and that will get you out of bed and remember, now you're in the daylight, you're in the sunlight situation and now your clock begins to regulate.”

He said you can also make a list of your daily goals before the countdown.

“If you say to yourself, ‘There's three things I want to achieve today’ and remind yourself what they are and then do 3-2-1 and then you get out of bed,” he said.

“Then your eyes detect the daylight … even daylight with clouds, that begins to set the clock.”