The unlikely way night owls can fix their sleep schedule and thrive in a 9-to-5, from a sleep specialist

For night owls, it can be difficult to acclimate to the 9-to-5 world, but one sleep expert has an interesting approach to help some of her U.S.-based clients who are night owls adjust to an earlier schedule.

"For patients who want to shift [their sleep-wake schedule], the fun that I recommend is to do a trip to Europe," Dr. Mandana Mahmoudi tells CNBC Make It. "I've sent a lot of my patients for a 10-day trip to Europe as a vacation."

Mahmoudi is the clinical director of sleep medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at NYU Langone Health.

Here's why Mahmoudi suggests that night owls take that 10-day trip abroad.

'You will have a natural jet lag'

Night owls go to bed and wake up later than others due to their natural circadian rhythms. Traveling to a time zone that isn't too far ahead or too close to the time zone where you live can help align the time that night owls wake up and go to sleep more closely with an earlier schedule, Mahmoudi says.

Mahmoudi noticed that a 10-day trip to Europe may be a sleep-altering hack for night owls that takes less time to adjust to than just trying melatonin and light therapy on their own.

"When you come back from Europe, you will have a natural jet lag no matter what. Even if you're sleeping until noon European time, that's like 6 a.m. U.S. time," Mahmoudi says.

After returning from the 10-day trip, you'll experience a lot of jet lag initially and fall asleep sooner. "Then because you're a night owl genetically, as like a week or two goes [by], you will drift out again."

"If you have a vacation coming up to Europe, that would give you a head start. You will come back with jet lag and then we will keep you in that time zone," she adds.

To keep her patients in the European time zone, Mahmoudi recommends they take 0.5 to 1 milligram of melatonin two to three hours before the bedtime that they wish to adhere to.

She also suggests using a sunrise box to get the most light possible at their desired wake time. Sticking to those practices consistently can help a night owl shift their schedule over time.

"But the consistency after [the trip] is important because you genetically are a night owl," Mahmoudi says.

"So unless you keep yourself in line with the load of melatonin [at night] and light in the morning, you will drift out again."

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