Not too long ago I came across an article about adjusting your sleep schedule, quickly. Rather than reset your internal clock with a few weeks of personal discipline by waking up to an alarm and going to bed earlier than you really wanted to, this article presented a method that was much faster. It needs to be faster because it is targeted towards people who travel regularly and have a general distaste for jet-lag.

The theory is as follows: Your brain knows when it should be getting food so it sets your sleeping habits accordingly. If you haven’t consumed enough calories in a day it won’t want to go to sleep because it wants you to put more food in your belly. Because of this food/sleep relationship (according to the article) you can use your brain’s selfish motivations for your own good.

If you refrain from food for 16 hours and end those 16 hours of fasting with sleep, when you wake up and eat breakfast your brain will say to itself, “Hey, this is when I get food. I need to remember this time so I can wake up and eat more the next day.” When I read this I thought it was an interesting theory, but didn’t put it to the test.

I’m a man who enjoys sleep. Maybe too much. I also enjoy just being in bed and bundled in blankets. I’ve also never been a morning person. I have much preferred going to bed late and waking up late. And by late I mean about 2 or 3 in the morning and not waking up until 11. That’s not a schedule very conducive to my current classes, though.

Along comes a couple weekends ago. I spent the Saturday night at some friend’s place before making the return trip to Logan Sunday morning. I had some pretty odd dreams that night so I kept waking up (one such time I woke up while Alex was playing a game and what I saw was so strange it broke my brain) so all in all my sleep was fairly lousy.

I’m not sure why, but I also didn’t eat a whole lot that day. I think a pack of ramen was the bulk of my intake. After some reading I was talking to my roommate and decided I was too tired to do anything else but sleep, this was at 8 PM. After plopping down onto my bed (futon) I pulled my blanket over me and zonked out.

When I opened my eyes I looked around and thought, “It’s still dark outside. I don’t see any indication of the sun. My alarm hasn’t gone off. I wonder what time it is. (grab phone) It’s not even 5 AM!? What am I doing up?” I plopped my head back onto my pillow because I clearly had more time to sleep, but sleep would not come.

Rather than waste the time, I grabbed a book and started reading. At 7 I made some cereal and watched a video on my computer. Waking up so early was just a fluke, right? Nope. It wasn’t. Since then I have unintentionally been waking up in the 5 o’clock hour as naturally as if I was camping in the desert and the tent became to hot to support human life (though the relative discomfort of the tent is not in my apartment).

One Friday night I didn’t go to bed until 11:30. Then on Saturday, when I have no reason to wake up early, I still woke at 5. I ate a bowl of cereal and some OJ, watched a couple episodes of My Name is Earl, and fell back asleep.

The point is this: if you need to readjust your sleep schedule, this is something you might want to give a try.