Calculate your temperature minimum by averaging your wake-up times over 3-7 days and subtracting 90 minutes to 2 hours. This point is your absolute reference for shifting your circadian clock, as it’s the lowest point in your 24-hour temperature cycle.
Get at least 100,000 lux of light exposure to your eyes before 9-10 AM (assuming a 5-8 AM wake-up) to optimally trigger neurons that set your circadian clock, which is paramount for mental and physical health. Go outside, even on cloudy days, as artificial indoor lights are often insufficient.
To shift your clock to wake up and go to sleep earlier (phase advance), expose your eyes to bright light, engage in exercise, and/or eat a meal in the four hours after your temperature minimum. This powerful mechanism can shift your clock by 1-3 hours per day.
To shift your clock to wake up and go to sleep later (phase delay), view bright light, engage in exercise, and/or eat a meal in the four to six hours before your temperature minimum. This powerful mechanism can shift your clock by 1-3 hours per day.
As much as safely possible, avoid bright light (and even not-so-bright light) between 10-11 PM and 4 AM, as very little photon energy during these hours can significantly reset and shift your circadian clock.
Engage in exercise and eat meals at more or less the same time each day to reinforce and stabilize your circadian clock, contributing to overall mental and physical health.
Utilize NSDR protocols, such as hypnosis or Yoga Nidra, to teach your brain and nervous system how to calm down, turn off thoughts, and facilitate sleep, or to recover cognitive and physical energy during the day. Practice them whenever you have an opportunity to improve autonomic regulation.
Look at sunlight around the time the sun is setting to adjust down the sensitivity of your eyes. This provides a buffer, allowing you more leeway to view artificial lights from screens or overhead lights later at night without significantly disrupting your circadian clock.
If you are a shift worker, strive to maintain the same work and sleep schedule for at least 14 days, including weekends. This is immensely beneficial for offsetting detrimental health effects like cortisol spikes and disrupted dopamine.
As a shift worker, view as much light as safely possible during your desired awake phase and as little light as safely possible during your desired sleep phase. Use your internal temperature rhythm (increasing temperature = get light, decreasing temperature = avoid light) as a guide.
When traveling, eat on the local meal schedule to help your peripheral body clocks, such as those in the liver, adapt to the new time zone. Avoid maintaining your home meal schedule, as this can send conflicting signals to your brain.
When traveling westward and aiming to stay up later, avoid taking long naps. If you must nap, keep it short (e.g., 20-60 minutes) to prevent waking up unable to fall back asleep later on the local schedule.
When traveling westward, use non-excessive amounts of stimulants like caffeine (in coffee or tea) to help push past afternoon sleepiness and stay awake until the local bedtime.
For trips lasting 48 hours or less (or ideally three days or less), try to stay on your home schedule as much as possible. Your clock is unlikely to shift significantly in this short period, making it easier to readjust upon return.
When traveling, use portable bright light devices (like light pads) to get light exposure when you want to be awake, and nightshades (eye covers) to block light when you want to sleep. This helps you maintain your home schedule and avoid clock disruption.
If caring for a baby with a fractured sleep schedule, try to get sleep in 45-minute increments or batches, aligning with ultradian cycles, even if spread throughout the day. This can reduce the total amount of sleep needed and help maintain well-being.
Parents on a baby’s fractured sleep schedule should prioritize getting morning and evening sunlight (or artificial light if natural light is unavailable) in their eyes. This helps anchor their own disrupted circadian clock, which is crucial when sleep patterns are chaotic.
For babies, maintain the room slightly colder when you want them to be asleep and slightly warmer when you want them to be awake. Always be very careful to avoid all temperature extremes, cold or hot.
Avoid exposing young babies to extremely bright sunlight or artificial light, as their eyes are very sensitive and their optics are not fully developed, making them more susceptible to discomfort and potential harm.
Prioritize the total duration of sleep for adolescents and teens, as they are undergoing the fastest rate of aging (puberty) and have a naturally later-shifted circadian rhythm requiring extended sleep.
Turn on lights in a teen’s room before they naturally wake up (if they are not hiding under covers) to help them get more sleep the subsequent night and increase total sleep time by about 45 minutes. This works by advancing their later temperature minimum.
Elderly individuals should get as much natural light as safely possible (even through open windows if getting outside is difficult) early in the day, and avoid artificial lights during the night phase. This has a tremendous effect on regulating sleep and circadian schedules.
For elderly individuals struggling with sleep, melatonin might be of greatest benefit due to chaotic natural melatonin patterns and less concern for reproductive hormone effects; however, always consult a physician before use.
Consider taking magnesium (threonate or glycinate forms) 30-60 minutes before bedtime to increase the depth of sleep and decrease the time it takes to fall asleep, as it engages the GABA pathway. Consult your doctor and check examine.com for more information.
Consider taking L-theanine (100-300 mg) 30-60 minutes before bedtime for a calming effect, as it activates GABA pathways and reduces top-down thinking, making it easier to fall asleep. Avoid if you experience sleepwalking or night terrors. Consult your doctor and check examine.com.
Consider apigenin (a derivative of chamomile) for a hypnotic effect, as it activates chloride channels and increases GABA in the brain, inducing sleepiness. Be aware of potential anti-estrogenic effects. Consult your doctor and check examine.com.
Use examine.com as a reliable resource to research any supplement you are considering, as it links to quality peer-reviewed studies, safety warnings, and information on study subjects and dosages.
Always prioritize behavioral protocols (such as NSDR, light exposure, exercise, and temperature regulation) for improving sleep before resorting to supplements. These behavioral changes typically have higher safety margins and allow for direct control.
Do not become neurotically attached to a specific sleep schedule, as this can lead to sleep anxiety, which paradoxically makes it harder to fall asleep and stay asleep. Biological systems are often more forgiving than sometimes described.
Never look at very bright lights that cause pain or make you blink or close your eyes, as this indicates a level of brightness that could potentially damage your central nervous system (eyes), which cannot regenerate.
Consider taking Athletic Greens once or twice a day to cover basic nutritional needs, address potential deficiencies, and provide probiotics vital for microbiome health, immune system, and mood regulation.
Consider supplementing with Vitamin D3 and K2, as D3 is essential for various aspects of brain and body health (many are deficient even with sunshine) and K2 is important for cardiovascular function and calcium regulation.
Dissolve one packet of Element in 16 to 32 ounces of water first thing in the morning and during physical exercise. This ensures proper hydration and adequate electrolytes (sodium, magnesium, potassium) for optimal brain and body function without added sugar.
Utilize the Waking Up app for various meditation programs, mindfulness trainings, yoga nidra sessions, or NSDR protocols. This allows exploration of different states of consciousness and restoration of cognitive and physical energy, even in short sessions.