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Can you change your chronotype?

Last updated: October 15, 2026

Partly. With morning light, a strict schedule and a few other habits, night owls in a 2019 trial moved their sleep and wake times about 2 hours earlier. But chronotype is partly genetic, so a strong night owl may never become a natural 5 AM riser.

What's genetic

Chronotype is partly inherited. A genetic study of almost 700,000 people linked 351 regions of the genome, many involved in the body clock, to being a morning person (Jones et al., 2019). The rest comes from light exposure, schedule, age and behavior.

How to shift earlier

Get bright light in the morning, keep evenings dim, and move your bed and wake times earlier in small steps. In a randomized trial, night owls who changed their light exposure, sleep times, meal times, caffeine and exercise habits advanced their sleep and wake times by about 2 hours, without losing sleep (Facer-Childs et al., 2019). Melatonin can also shift the body clock, but ask a doctor or pharmacist about timing and dose first.

The biological floor

Shifting is not the same as converting. Strong night owls may still never feel at their best very early in the morning. Where you can, match your schedule to your biology.

Sources

1. Matthew Walker, Why We Sleep (Scribner, 2017). Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams
2. Jones et al., Nature Communications, 2019. Genome-wide association analyses of chronotype in 697,828 individuals provides insights into circadian rhythms
3. Facer-Childs et al., Sleep Medicine, 2019. Resetting the late timing of 'night owls' has a positive impact on mental health and performance