How night owls can get better sleep—besides going to bed earlier

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a night owl. Nick at Nite reruns were my favorite lullaby as a teen, and although I now opt for streaming shows and audiobooks as an adult, my experience remains the same—when the world goes to sleep, I’m wide awake. As someone who struggles to rise before 9:30 a.m., I’ve always wondered: Is the grass really greener for those who wake up with the morning dew? Lately, sleep research has me thinking about that even more. After all, poor sleep habits exacerbate health and safety hazards on the job, hamper work performance, and magnify a number of physical health risks. Recent studies have also linked late sleep schedules with higher mental health vulnerability and more work-life balance issues—meaning, people who got “enough” sleep, even though they stayed up late, still suffered ill effects. But for people who are natural night owls like me, simply going to bed and waking up earlier isn’t always an option. What’s a night owl to do? For everyone scratching their heads alongside me, here’s what the research really says—and what experts recommend we do about it. The night owl’s struggle A Stanford University study from last summer looked at heal…