Ask HN: Has anyone switched from being a night owl to being a morning person?

I began making the change in January and was fully morning-person by mid-February. I'm thoroughly enjoying it, and would highly, highly recommend it.

The key for me was having both a reason to wake up, and a reason to go to sleep. To have a shot of waking up on time in the morning, you unsurprisingly need to go to sleep about 8 hours before you want to wake up. Part of the kick for me was the realization that the later it gets, the more likely I am to do mindless things I don't actually want to do (e.g. Facebook). So, I thought, why not sleep instead?

If you're productive that late, maybe there's no need to change. But I will say I used to be productive that late (read: every college problem set was completed between midnight and 6am), and I still think becoming a morning person was a great decision. More than morning productivity, I just feel better in general.

To actually wake up on the other end, I find I need a particular reason, i.e. something that I'm going to do the moment I wake up. For me, that's running to the gym. I'm sure the fact that it's exercise has some extra effect, but I really think it's mostly just the fact that every morning, by rote, I roll out of bed, put on running clothes, and walk out the door. No thinking involved. I suspect it would work about as well to roll out of bed, put on clothes, and fry an egg.

To address particulars of other comments: I'm 25, I don't have a physically intensive job, I often (usually) eat as late as 7 or 8pm, I never drink caffeine after 4pm (I've found that makes it harder to fall asleep). I go to bed at 9:30pm and wake up ~5:45am.

Indeed. I've been early rising for a long time, then I had kids and now I go to bed even earlier. Pretty much as soon as they are put down for the night I am not that far behind. Makes for some early mornings but, oh well...

Many times. First, you need to force yourself to get out of bed at your target time. Do this for a couple days, have some coffee, find a routine. Eventually your body will adjust the its internal clock to make you feel tired earlier. It is also important, I have found, to ensure that you get dressed and groomed and ready soon after waking in the morning (even if you're not planning to leave the house) as this helps promote productivity. For some people this is easier than others, but it is certainly possible for all. Baby steps, my friend.

I used to think I am biologically wired to be a nightowl but i am a morning person now.

I got a cat that wakes me up every morning at 6:30 am. I used to hate it but now i don't mind it :D.

Every time I come home from Europe. I'm joking, but I'm not joking too. I live in New York City. Last year I got into a long stretch where I would fall asleep at 4 AM and wake up at noon. Then I spent a week at the Web Summit:

http://www.smashcompany.com/philosophy/some-photos-from-the-...

When I came home, it seemed normal to wake up at 5 AM. And I stuck with that pattern for several months, before I started to shift to a later schedule again.