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 krona types so far. We've discussed what cron types 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 and
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 type 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 owls into morning locks may be seen as helpful and it has been tried. These were the
Couple efforts of an Australian LED team. Here's the long and short of it. They took a group of extreme night owls. And these folks typically wanted to fall asleep around 2:30 a.m. 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 twelve rules.
It's during this three week period and here they are in quickfire succession. Are you ready? Number one, set, an alarm and wake up two to three 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 6. No caffeine. After 3 p.m. Number 7. No, napping. After 4 p.m. Number eight. Eat dinner early in the evening and do not eat any food. After 7, p.m. Number 9, go to bed, two to three hours, earlier than normal number 10.
The amount of light exposure in the evening. And finally, number 11, go to bed and wake up at the same time, each and every day. In fact, within 15 to 30 minutes, no matter whether it was the weekend or the weekday was the experiment
successful. Well, kind of
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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. We're now going to bed, somewhere between midnight or 12:30 a.m. Furthermore there.
Performance on several standardized cognitive and mental tasks had also improved particularly during the morning hours when night owls typically struggle, the most 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, we,
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, it in a terrible mess of solecism some spots on the night. Owl leopard can be smeared or at least smeared a little bit but
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.
Here 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.
