> I'm glad the author of the post recognized that it is possible to switch from being a night owl to an early riser. Anecdotally, I am a night owl... if it were not for work and kids, I would sleep late and wake early. That feels natural for me. But, when my daughter was born, I was forced to switch and it has been fairly painless.
I am skeptical it is possible. Kids and teenagers spend years being yanked awake against their circadian rhythms, and they don't switch but instead their grades suffer as does their health (http://www.gwern.net/education-is-not-about-learning#school-...). As well, people suck at self-assessment - 'what do you think you know and why?'
Well yea, I didn't notice anything "bad". It took some adjustment initially to move my clock, but I pretty much get up at 5:30-6:00 AM and can get out of bed alert and refreshed.
I am still getting 8 hours of sleep a day. I can only assume that night owls who fail to switch, who wake up groggy and tired, are actually sleep deprived.
I am skeptical it is possible. Kids and teenagers spend years being yanked awake against their circadian rhythms, and they don't switch but instead their grades suffer as does their health (http://www.gwern.net/education-is-not-about-learning#school-...). As well, people suck at self-assessment - 'what do you think you know and why?'
Sleep debt takes up to a month to pay off (http://preview.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15892922); people don't realize this. People sleep in 23 minutes a day on the weekend (http://blog.myzeo.com/sleep-by-night-of-the-week/); people think they sleep longer. People restricted to 4 or 6 hours of sleep may claim they have adapted to it; they haven't and their mental performance still suffers (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Sleep-t.htm...).
Why do you and the OP think you can switch, and have? (What do you think you know, and why?) Because you didn't notice anything bad. I see...