Creatures of the Night



Morning Lark

Night Owl

I’ve always been amazed at the ability of some people to set their alarm and wake up when it goes off.  Personally, I have no concept of how to perform such a task.  I set my alarm (when I have to set my alarm) an hour before I need to get up so that I can push that snooze button (a masterful invention in my opinion) at least 6 times, though I probably squeeze a couple more in for good measure.  Don’t get me wrong, I hate the sound of the alarm, so much so that I ban products that feature that dastardly sound in their television ads. But, I rarely remember hearing the sound more than once or twice when I actually wake up.  Pushing the snooze button has become such a natural part of my waking process that I don’t even wake up to do it.

I am a night person.  There is no debating that.  And I have no problems with the early morning given that I had stayed up all night to reach such hours.  But I feel as if perhaps this may not be the healthiest habit to get into.  Currently, my daytime, especially morning, obligations are few and far between.  I go to school online and my only other “job” is writing in this blog on a regular basis and helping keep my parents’ house clean.  So I’m running on my own schedule and that’s exactly the way I like it. 

But I don’t want to live with my parents forever, and I need to make money eventually because there are a lot of pretty things that I feel should reside with me (I’m looking at you Nook) and the so-called real world doesn’t run on my schedule.  But what can I do? A tiger can’t change his stripes and this night owl can’t just become a morning lark. It’s not natural and even Darwin would consider it impossible.  Since I’m not actually changing species, though, I could probably give it a try.

WikiHow puts the process into seven “simple” steps such as knowing the reason why you want to wake up early (um, because getting up after noon is frowned upon) and other obvious gems like going to bed earlier and setting your alarm clock.  But I know that things aren’t so simple.  This isn’t my first attempt to change over to the bright side and I need more.

So I found this article from Fitness Magazine, which you can read here, that has given some illumination to my dark inclination.  My night owl status could be genetic, but I’m guessing that since both of my parents have no problem getting up at 5AM and working after only 6 hours of sleep that I don’t have those antisocial genes.  The article had some great suggestions on how to change over to “morning person” status.  Here are some of the highlights:

• First off, it’s not going to happen overnight.  This kind of change takes time to get used to and you will probably be resistant to it at first.
• You should try to go to bed the same time every night and get up at the same time every morning (yes, unfortunately this includes weekends).  This is to help reset your circadian clock.
• Walking outside as soon as you wake up will invigorate you and the sun helps shut off those sleepy-time hormones.  A bonus is that you will have already done a little exercise before you even have your morning coffee. Kudos!
• When you go to bed, your room should be dark, quiet, and cool.  TV before bed is very bad because it emits blue light which sends stay-awake signals to your body.
• Take a hot bath or shower before bed because it will immediately cool your body once you step out of the shower.  Plus, who doesn’t like feeling squeaky clean before tucking in for the night?
• Move your alarm clock to another room so you have to get up to shut it off (no more snooze). Or you could invest in a fancy alarm clock that gradually and more naturally wakes you up.  I found this one that seems a little 50s space-agey but could be really cool.

Having read all of this, I’m not sure if I am ready for the switch just yet.  Besides, all of the best shows come on after 10 and my parents are in bed by then.  If only I could stop my urge for snacking at these late hours, things might actually work out alright.

Listen Sammi.  Your late nights and bypassing of anything before noon might be fine and dandy for now, but pretty soon you’re going to have to live like a real grown-up.  And that will most likely include eating fiber-rich cereal for breakfast.  Enjoy it while you can, but you should make an effort to see the sun every once in a while.  I hear that sunrises are quite a sight.