Feeling sluggish all day, yet wired at night? You may need to reset your circadian rhythm. This is your body’s internal clock that controls when you feel sleepy and when you feel alert.
While your circadian rhythm is always ticking away inside your body, you can get out of sync with it with an irregular sleep schedule or night shift work, for example. Luckily, you can also reset it and get your sleep schedule, energy levels, and overall health back on track.
Below, we’ll dive into what the circadian rhythm is, when you might need to reset it, and how to reset it naturally. Plus, we’ll share how the RISE app can make resetting your circadian rhythm easy.
“To reset your circadian rhythm, focus on light and when you get exposed to it. Get out in sunlight as soon as you can in the morning for at least 10 minutes, prioritize getting out in daylight throughout the day, and then make your evenings and nights dark,” says Jamie Zeitzer, Ph.D., a circadian physiologist and Co-Director of the Center for Sleep and Circadian Sciences at Stanford University.
Your circadian rhythm is your internal biological clock. It runs on a roughly 24-hour cycle and dictates when your body wants to sleep and wake up, when your energy levels rise and fall throughout the day, when you make certain hormones, and when your body temperature and blood pressure naturally fluctuate.
But there’s more than just one body clock at work.
There’s a — known as the (SCN) — found in the hypothalamus of the brain. And then there are clocks in almost every tissue and organ system in your body. These are called , and they can be found in places like your gut, immune system, and liver.
The SCN is synchronized to the light-dark cycle of the outside world and it communicates this time with the peripheral clocks keeping them aligned to each other and the outside world. Together, all of these clocks tell your body when the best times are to eat, sleep, be alert, and so on.
Everyone’s circadian rhythm will look roughly the same, but the timing will be different depending on your chronotype. Your chronotype is whether you’re an early bird, night owl, or something in between. Morning people have earlier circadian rhythms, whereas night owls' rhythms run later.
Not sure what you are? We’ve covered how to find out your chronotype here.
Your circadian rhythm also changes with age. tend to skew later, while older adults’ rhythms tend to skew earlier. So, we naturally become more of an earlier riser as we age — and your teen’s tendency to lay in isn’t laziness.
RISE can predict your circadian rhythm each day and show you a simple visualization of it in the app. You can then see when your body naturally wants to wake up and go to sleep, and when your peaks and dips in energy will most likely be throughout the day.
Finding out the timings of daily energy peaks and dips is the most popular feature among RISE users.
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Yes, you can reset your circadian rhythm. Resetting your circadian rhythm simply means resetting when your body naturally wants to go to sleep up and wake up.
The timing of your circadian rhythm can be changed by , which is German for time-givers. Zeitgebers tell your circadian rhythm what time it is outside your body.
They can either reinforce the timing of your circadian rhythm (i.e. confirm it’s running on time) or shift the timing earlier or later in the 24-hour cycle.
Zeitgebers include:
One illuminating took participants camping for a week and exposed them to natural light only. Without laptop or smartphone screens or artificial light, their circadian clocks adjusted to match the light-dark cycle of the outside world.
What’s even more impressive is that night owls showed the biggest changes. Their circadian rhythms shifted to look more like those of early birds. So, while night owls do exist, some extreme night owls may be that way because of bad habits like late-night light exposure.
We turned to sleep researcher Dr. Jamie Zeitzer again for backup.
“Your circadian rhythm isn’t set in stone. You can change the timing of it with cues like light exposure. For example, early morning light brings your circadian rhythm forward, whereas late-night light exposure pushes it back.”
Now you know what your circadian rhythm is and that it’s possible to reset it, here’s how to get it back on track
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Beyond these key steps, it’s important to maintain good sleep hygiene. Sleep hygiene is the set of habits you can do to get a good night’s sleep. With good sleep hygiene, you’ll have an easier time falling asleep at your desired bedtime, keeping your circadian rhythm on track.
Many of the habits above are a part of good sleep hygiene, such as getting light in the morning, and avoiding light, caffeine, intense exercise, and alcohol too close to bedtime.
RISE can walk you through 20+ sleep hygiene habits each day and tell you the best time to do each one to make them more effective.
Heads-up: It’s tempting to pull an all-nighter to fix your sleep schedule. But this won’t help. It’ll only give you more sleep deprivation, make you feel more sleepy, and further disrupt your circadian rhythm. Skip the all-nighter and focus on shifting your sleep-wake cycle in 15-to-30-increments instead.
You might want to reset your circadian rhythm if:
Sleep problems and low energy are the most obvious reasons to reset your circadian rhythm. But being in circadian alignment (when your sleep-wake times and mealtimes match when your body wants to sleep and eat) isn’t just good news for your sleep and energy.
Being in sync lowers your risk of , obesity, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. And found a disrupted circadian rhythm from mis-timed light exposure and food consumption can mess up your hormones and metabolism.
Being in sync with your circadian rhythm can also make keeping your sleep debt low easier. Sleep debt is how much sleep you’ve missed out on recently. It’s compared against your sleep need, the genetically determined amount of sleep you need.
Low sleep debt equals better energy, productivity, mood, and health (we recommend keeping your sleep debt below 5 hours to feel and function your best).
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You might be out of sync with your circadian rhythm if:
RISE can work out your individual sleep need and whether you’ve got any sleep debt.
Your circadian rhythm resets every 24 hours. But if you’re trying to shift the timing of it, it may take longer.
How long it takes to shift the timing of your circadian rhythm will all depend on how much you’re trying to shift it by. We recommend moving your sleep-wake times by no more than 15 to 30 minutes every few days until you reach your ideal schedule.
It may take a few days or weeks for your body to fully adjust. But shifting your circadian rhythm gradually will give you the best chance of sticking to your new schedule, without sacrificing sleep or daytime energy.
In a rush and want to reset your sleep schedule overnight? Focus on sleep hygiene habits. These habits will give you the best chance of falling asleep when your body naturally wants to.
Circadian rhythm sleep disorders are disorders that affect your circadian rhythm, and therefore the timing of your sleep.
They include:
The best way to fix a circadian rhythm sleep disorder is to speak to your doctor or a sleep specialist. They’ll be able to recommend lifestyle changes, like improving your sleep hygiene, and , like light therapy and melatonin.
If you’re suffering from low daytime energy and trouble sleeping, it may be time to reset your circadian rhythm. Shift your sleep-wake times gradually, get light early in the morning and during the day, and then avoid it before bed.
Tuning into your circadian rhythm isn’t exactly second nature — and this is where the RISE app can help.
RISE predicts the timing of your circadian rhythm based on algorithms, your recent sleep times, and your inferred light exposure. The app will then show you a visualization of what your circadian rhythm looks like, so you can sync up your daily life to it and work to shift it earlier or later, depending on your lifestyle and work schedule.
To help make that happen, RISE can tell you when to do 20+ sleep habits. These sleep hygiene habits will give you the best chance of meeting your sleep need with natural healthy sleep and staying in sync with your circadian rhythm.
Resetting your circadian rhythm is a gradual process, but each small step you take to sync up and get more sleep can have big benefits. In fact, 80% of RISE users feel more energy within five days.
Shift your sleep-wake times gradually, get light first thing in the morning and during the day, and then avoid light, caffeine, intense exercise, and alcohol too close to bedtime. Light is the most powerful signal to your circadian rhythm to help reset it, so getting the timing right is key.
Sunlight is the most powerful signal to your circadian rhythm to tell it what time of day or night it is. To reset your circadian rhythm, get natural light as soon as possible in the morning and then throughout the day. Avoid light in the evenings and make your nights as dark as possible.
You can reset your circadian rhythm naturally by slowly shifting your sleep-wake times and practicing good sleep hygiene, especially the timing of your light exposure.
Melatonin supplements can change the timing of your circadian rhythm, helping you go to sleep and wake up earlier or later than usual. Take melatonin in the morning to feel sleepier later, and take it in the afternoon or a few hours before bed to feel sleepier earlier. Speak to your doctor or a sleep specialist to get the best dosage for you.
How long it takes to reset your circadian rhythm will all depend on how much you’re trying to move it by and how quickly you’re doing it. We recommend shifting your sleep-wake times by 15 to 30 minutes every few days until you reach your ideal schedule. It may take a few days or weeks for your body to fully adjust.
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