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#06: Chronotype: Part 3

7m 21s

#06: Chronotype: Part 3

In the final episode of a three-part series on chronotypes, Matt Walker explores whether evening types can be transformed into morning types. While he personally believes evening types should be allowed to sleep according to their biological design, he acknowledges societal pressures for change. He describes an Australian study involving extreme night owls who naturally fell asleep around 2:30 AM. Over three weeks, participants followed 12 strict rules: waking 2–3 hours earlier, eating breakfast immediately, getting morning sunlight, exercising only in the morning, eating lunch earlier and consistently, avoiding caffeine after 3 PM, no napping after 4 PM, eating dinner early with no food after 7 PM, going to bed 2–3 hours earlier, limiting evening light, and maintaining consistent sleep/wake times within 15–30 minutes daily. The results were partially successful—night owls advanced their internal clocks by nearly two hours, now sleeping around midnight to 12:30 AM, and showed improved cognitive performance in mornings. However, they did not become true morning types, and the regimen is impractical for lifelong adherence. Walker concludes by advocating for societal acceptance of night owls rather than forcing them to change, suggesting this would lead to a happier, healthier world. He ends with a sponsorship segment for Athletic Greens, a nutrition drink he endorses.

Transcription

953 Words, 5222 Characters

English
Hi there, it's Matt Walker here and welcome back to the podcast and welcome back to the final episode in this three part series all about chronotypes. So far we've discussed what chronotypes are and some of the dangers of not sleeping in sync with your chronotype. In this third episode we're going to discuss whether or not you can change an evening type into a morning type. Now I don't wish this for evening types, I don't want those evening types to have to change. I think evening types should be allowed to sleep when they are biologically designed to sleep and wake up. But I'm also a realist and I understand why trying to change night hours into morning locks may be seen as helpful and it has been tried. These were the remarkable efforts of an Australian lead team. Here's the long and short of it. They took a group of extreme night hours and these folks typically wanted to fall asleep around 2.30 am in the morning. The sleep plan that the researchers designed unfolded across the course of three weeks. And it was far from easy however they had to follow a total of 12 rules during this three week period and here they are in quick fire succession. Are you ready? Number one, set an alarm and wake up 2-3 hours earlier than would be normal. Number two, very soon after waking up you must eat breakfast. Number three, in the morning get outside and get as much natural daylight as possible. Number four, only exercise in the morning, not in the afternoon or in the evening. Number five, eat lunch earlier than you would otherwise and at the same time each and every day. Number six, no caffeine after 3pm, number seven, no napping after 4pm, number eight, eat dinner early in the evening and do not eat any food after 7pm. Number nine, go to bed 2-3 hours earlier than normal. Number ten, limit the amount of light exposure in the evening and finally number eleven, go to bed and wake up at the same time each and every day. In fact within 15-30 minutes no matter whether it was the weekend or the weekday. Was the experiment successful? Well kind of. The sponsor of today's episode is Athletic Greens. Now I know at this point you're probably wanting to just skip forward but if you could just give me a quick chance to explain why I selected them as a sponsor I'd be so very grateful. Athletic Greens is a nutrition drink and it's one that I've been using for the day. For a good few years now and I'd heard about it from lots of famous people in the podcast arena but I ended up using it because it really provides all of the necessary daily vitamins and minerals, biotics and also a very healthy dose of antioxidants which I'm particularly interested in and I'm going to speak about those more in detail regarding links to sleep. The final reason I selected Athletic Greens is because of its founder and CEO and that is Chris Ashendon. He's a very special individual. He created this company from the ground up in New Zealand and he's also just a really genuine guy and he's trying to improve people's health and wellness with Athletic Greens and that's something I want to get behind too. So if this sounds interesting head on over to Athletic Greens.com/Metwalker and you'll firstly get some money off your initial order. Also if you use that link, Athletic Greens.com/Metwalker they will give you a one year free supply of Vitamin D and also as a special favor to this podcast. Chris has been really kind. If you use that link, Athletic Greens.com/Metwalker they will give you five free travel packs with your first purchase. Anyway, that's Athletic Greens now. Let's get back to the podcast. So the experiment was somewhat successful. The internal clock timing of those extreme night owls had been wound back in time as it were indeed almost by two hours in total. So that by the end of the three week experiment these evening types were now going to bed somewhere between midnight or 12.30 am. Furthermore their performance on several standardized cognitive and mental tasks had also improved particularly during the morning hours when night owls typically struggle the most. But still it wasn't as though these evening types had magically switched over to becoming shiny happy morning types by any stretch of the imagination. They were still wanting to go to bed at midnight or a little bit later as I said which is certainly not morning type behavior and certainly not much very help in the face of modern societies demand for early morning start times. So can a leopard change its spots? Well to mix metaphors in a terrible mess of solosism some spots on the night owl leopard can be smeared or at least smeared a little bit. But in truth it's hard to imagine that those people would be able to keep up all of those rules and stay strictly to all of those rules each and every day for the rest of their lives. I just worry that it's not real world practical. Instead can we not just let night owls sleep in harmony as they were genetically made. If we did that I can assure you that the world would be a happier and healthier place as a consequence that would be my wish at least. And with that I will simply say good night. Thank you so much for listening and I will see you in the next episode.

Podcast Summary

Key Points:

  1. Chronotypes are biological sleep preferences; evening types face societal pressure to become morning types.
  2. An Australian study tested a strict 12-rule, three-week protocol to shift extreme night owls (sleeping at ~2:30 AM) to earlier sleep times.
  3. Key rules included waking 2–3 hours earlier, morning sunlight, early meals, no caffeine after 3 PM, no late naps, and consistent sleep/wake times.
  4. The experiment partially succeeded
  5. However, participants did not fully become morning types, and maintaining all rules long-term is impractical.
  6. The speaker advocates for societal acceptance of evening chronotypes rather than forcing change.

Summary:

In the final episode of a three-part series on chronotypes, Matt Walker explores whether evening types can be transformed into morning types. While he personally believes evening types should be allowed to sleep according to their biological design, he acknowledges societal pressures for change. He describes an Australian study involving extreme night owls who naturally fell asleep around 2:30 AM.

Over three weeks, participants followed 12 strict rules: waking 2–3 hours earlier, eating breakfast immediately, getting morning sunlight, exercising only in the morning, eating lunch earlier and consistently, avoiding caffeine after 3 PM, no napping after 4 PM, eating dinner early with no food after 7 PM, going to bed 2–3 hours earlier, limiting evening light, and maintaining consistent sleep/wake times within 15–30 minutes daily. The results were partially successful—night owls advanced their internal clocks by nearly two hours, now sleeping around midnight to 12:30 AM, and showed improved cognitive performance in mornings. However, they did not become true morning types, and the regimen is impractical for lifelong adherence.

Walker concludes by advocating for societal acceptance of night owls rather than forcing them to change, suggesting this would lead to a happier, healthier world. He ends with a sponsorship segment for Athletic Greens, a nutrition drink he endorses.

FAQs

This episode discusses whether evening chronotypes, or night owls, can be changed into morning types through a structured sleep intervention.

The plan included 12 rules such as waking up 2-3 hours earlier, eating breakfast soon after waking, getting morning sunlight, exercising only in the morning, eating meals at consistent times, avoiding caffeine after 3 PM, no napping after 4 PM, eating dinner early, going to bed 2-3 hours earlier, limiting evening light, and maintaining a consistent sleep-wake schedule.

The experiment was somewhat successful; night owls shifted their sleep timing by about two hours, going to bed around midnight to 12:30 AM, and improved morning cognitive performance. However, they did not fully become morning types.

The sponsor was Athletic Greens, a nutrition drink providing daily vitamins, minerals, biotics, and antioxidants.

Listeners could get money off their initial order, a one-year free supply of Vitamin D, and five free travel packs with their first purchase by visiting AthleticGreens.com/Metwalker.

No, Walker believes night owls should be allowed to sleep according to their biological design, as forcing change is impractical and may not be sustainable long-term.

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Transcription

953 words