The first night of training, stay up as late as you can without forcing yourself. Stay awake until you feel like you can’t keep your eyes open a moment longer, then go to sleep. Don’t set an alarm, and block the windows so you won’t wake up with the sun. Sleep as late as you can, then wake up and go about your day. The next night, try to stay up an hour later than you did the night before, and in the morning, sleep an extra hour. Continue this process until you’re falling asleep and rising when you want to.
Some find that they feel more creative at night. Try working on an art project, making music, or writing an essay in the middle of the night. Try not to go to sleep until you’re at a good stopping point. You probably won’t even notice when the sun begins to rise.
Taking a shower after you work out, preferably a cool one, will also help keep you from falling asleep. If you don’t like to exercise, just stick your head outside and take several deep breaths of air when you’re feeling tired. The temperature difference will make your body wake up.
If you don’t know anyone else who’s trying to be nocturnal, use a chat program to get in touch with someone living in another time zone where everyone’s awake. If you’re chatting with someone who lives in a place where it’s daytime, you’ll be able to wake right up.
Make sure you stay in safe, well-lit areas when you go out at night. Since fewer people will be out and about, it’s important to be aware of your surroundings and mindful of your safety. Bring a cell phone with you and tell someone where you’re going.
The same goes for energy drinks that contain other types of stimulants. It’s better to gradually train your body to stay awake instead of forcing it using artificial means.
If you don’t want to buy a set of blackout curtains, get very dark, heavy drapes or cover your windows with thick, dark-colored blankets. Using a sleeping mask to block out light is also helpful if you don’t mind sleeping with something on your face.
If you don’t like wearing items on your head while you sleep, try using a white noise machine. These machines produce low, quiet sounds to which your ears quickly grow accustomed, and they block out the other more annoying sounds that might enter your room.
If you’re interested in taking stronger sleeping pills that use synthetic chemicals to put the body to sleep, it’s best to discuss this with your doctor first. This is especially important if you have to drive or go to work upon waking.
You’ll need to set up a schedule that works for your family so they have no need to disturb you. For example, if your children will be coming home from school during the time you’re supposed to be asleep, have a plan in place for them to go to after school care or stay with someone until you wake up.
After you’ve gradually gotten accustomed to your schedule, stick with it the same way you would a regular schedule. Set your alarm and try to go to bed on time. When you’re ready to go back to a normal day/night schedule, do it gradually.
Try to arrange your schedule so that you get at least a little sun exposure during the daylight. You may want to get a sun lamp to stimulate vitamin D production if you’re getting very little sun.
There are fewer people around during the night, which can be great for a number of reasons. It can be a creatively productive time if you are naturally a night owl. People will not be emailing you with demands, so you will not be interrupted. You’ll be the life of the party because you’ll be more refreshed than all the people knocking off a day’s work. You might even join the ranks of the “professional night owls” who live to party in the best nightclubs in town. It’s a chance to connect with interesting people also staying up all night, including night owls, vampire fans, social moths, and people who just can’t get off the internet late at night. Your house won’t seem as messy. Human vision is terrible at night. Even with the lights on, it is harder to see the dust and fluff bunnies. You won’t need to clean half as hard! Another thing to consider is being nocturnal seasonally or for a set period rather than all year long. This can be useful during a special season like summertime when the nights are lovely, during a vacation season and so on. You can be available to pursue whatever interests happen to coincide with your need to stay up all night.
Shift work will allow you to continue working during the night. There are many different possibilities for shift work, including loading and transporting goods, security and policing, monitoring facilities, night-fill in supermarkets, hotel reception work, fishing, cleaning, journalists, highway work, and so on. Even sports can be played at night; a recent study showed that morning larks made better morning pitchers, while night owls made better evening pitchers. Work from home. If you are a blogger, online marketer, eBay seller, writer, artist, etc. , who can work from home, set up your own routine as befits your work. Studies will be harder, but if you are taking classes online, you can study this whenever you like. For university, get recordings of lectures, or ask friends for notes. You will have problems with missing tutorials that require attendance for grades, so try to schedule evening tutorials.
In New York City, you can connect with other like-minded night owls through the New York Night Owls, a weekly meet-up of hardworking night owls which keeps the hours 10pm – 4am. The idea has also caught on in London,[1] X Research source and may be coming to a location near you anytime soon! Look for cafes and other meeting places that court night owls and don’t throw you out after midnight. Again, these are more likely to exist in large urban environments but if there isn’t one near you, consider creating a home network with fellow nocturnals so you can drop in on each other and have a cup of something and brainstorm creatively together in the deep of the night. Use social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook to connect with other nocturnals in your area: check the location status so that you know you’re talking to a night owl and not a lark in a city on the other side of the world!
Be sure to get sufficient vitamin D. You will need a little regular sunshine daily.
