Night Owl

Your body clock runs late. Left to yourself, you would fall asleep sometime after one in the morning and wake around ten or eleven. Early mornings feel unnatural, as if your body is still firmly asleep while you go through the motions.

Your alertness builds slowly through the day. Late afternoon is when you start to feel properly awake, and evening is when you are at your best. Ideas flow, focus comes easily and you can work for hours without noticing the time.

You probably know the downside, too. When the world expects you at nine, you feel groggy, slow and not at all hungry. Weekends often bring long lie-ins to catch up.

This rhythm is largely built in. You can shift it a little with light, routine and timing, but you will never become a true lark. The aim is to work with your rhythm where you can and soften it where you must.

Your ideal day starts late and peaks late:

• 10:00 Wake, open the curtains, get daylight straight away.
• 10:30 A slow start: shower, coffee, a light breakfast.
• 11:30 Easy tasks: emails, messages, planning.
• 13:00 Lunch, outside if you can.
• 14:00 Meetings and conversations.
• 16:00 Start deeper work as your focus sharpens.
• 18:30 Exercise: a run, the gym or a class.
• 20:00 Dinner.
• 21:00 Peak hours: creative work, study or the projects you love.
• 23:30 Wind down: dim the lights, put screens away.
• 00:30 Read or listen to something calm.
• 01:00 Bed.

Few people get to live like this every day, but you can borrow parts of it. Even moving your hardest work to the evening, or getting outside before lunch, makes a real difference.

Your best thinking happens later in the day. Late afternoon and evening are when you do your most creative or complex work. If your job allows, shift your hours later or keep some focus work for the evening.

If you work standard hours, use the mornings for routine tasks: email, admin, planning, simple meetings. Save writing, problem-solving and important decisions for the afternoon.

Early meetings are your weak spot. Ask for later slots where you can. Where you cannot, prepare the night before, while you are sharp, so you are not thinking from scratch at nine.

Watch out for working too late. It is tempting to stay up finishing a project because your brain feels so alive, but if you have to be up early, the cost lands the next day. Set a finish time on work nights and stick to it.

Evening exercise suits you best. Your body is warmed up, your energy is high and you will perform far better than at seven in the morning. A run after work, an evening class or a late gym session all work.

Finish hard exercise at least two hours before you plan to sleep. Gentle stretching or a stroll is fine closer to bed.

You may not be hungry when you wake, and that is fine. Have something light, like fruit or toast, within an hour or two, and make lunch your first proper meal.

Dinner can sit a little later for you, around eight. Avoid big, heavy meals right before bed.

Caffeine is the big one. Night owls often lean on coffee to get through the morning, and then the afternoon cup keeps them up even later. Keep coffee to the morning and switch to decaf or herbal tea after lunch.

The biggest gift you can give yourself is morning light. Open the curtains as soon as you wake, and get outside for ten minutes if you can. It is the most powerful way to pull your body clock a little earlier.

In the evening, keep the lights low. Use lamps rather than overhead lights after about ten, and keep screens dim and away from your face in the last hour. Bright light late at night tells your body it is still daytime.

Keep a consistent wake-up time, even at weekends. Sleeping until one on Saturday makes Monday morning feel like stepping off a long-haul flight.

Build a wind-down routine that starts an hour before bed. A shower, a book, some quiet music. Your brain is busy at night, so give it something calm to do.

Blackout curtains help on the days you can sleep later into the morning.

Living with a morning lark is the biggest challenge. When you are wide awake at midnight, they have been asleep for hours. When they are up at six, you are in your deepest sleep.

Agree on house rules. Quiet mornings for you, quiet late nights for them. Soft lighting, earplugs and an eye mask all help. Keep late-night music, games or cooking to a separate room if you can.

Find your overlap. Early evening is usually the best time for shared meals and catch-ups, when they still have energy and you are fully awake.

With early risers, the overlap is a little bigger, and with late risers it is easier still. Fellow night owls make great company, but be careful not to egg each other on into even later nights.

With friends, suggest evening plans. You are far better company at dinner than at breakfast.

Travelling west is usually easier for you, because you need to stay up later, which comes naturally. Get outside in the afternoon and evening light, and go to bed at a normal local time.

Travelling east is harder, because you need to sleep and wake earlier. Start shifting a few days before you go by getting up a little earlier each day and getting morning light. When you arrive, get outside early, avoid long naps and keep evening lights dim.

The spring clock change can be tough, since losing an hour pushes your rhythm even later. A week beforehand, start going to bed fifteen minutes earlier every couple of nights, and get bright light first thing.

The autumn change usually feels like a gift. Enjoy the extra hour, but keep your wake-up time steady.

On any trip, morning light and regular meals are your best anchors.