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How to Fix Your Sleep

Schedule
What Throws Sleep O! How to Reset

By Kristen Stewart
Medically Reviewed by Samuel Mackenzie, MD, PhD

Last Updated: 2/6/2018

Yes, you can retrain your body to want to go to bed and wake

up earlier. Shutterstock

There’s a reason we tend to feel sleepy around the

same time each night — and why, if we don’t set an
alarm, we tend to wake up at the same time in the
mornings. As long as we’re not pulling all-nighters or
traveling across several time zones, our bodies tend to
want to follow consistent sleep patterns (which is key
for getting the high-quality sleep we need).

Our sleep schedules do vary from person to person,

depending in large part on the environmental cues we
give our bodies — when we set our alarms, when we
are most active during the day, when we eat, and
when we let ourselves hit the pillow. (1)

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And because our sleep schedules depend on the

signals we send our bodies — such as “it’s not time to
go to bed yet, there’s another episode of The
Crown queued up on Net!ix I should watch” — that
means we can send our bodies signals to adjust our
sleep schedules, too. Just because you’re in a rut of
going to bed at 2 a.m. doesn’t mean you can’t change
that!

If you do want to get your sleep schedule back on

track, you’re going to need to reset your body clock.
Our body clocks regulate our bodies’ circadian
rhythms — the patterns of physical, mental, and
behavioral changes, including sleep patterns,
regulated by body temperature, hormone secretion,
and external factors like light and darkness —
according to the National Institutes of Health. (2)

Our body’s master clock is located in a part of the

brain’s hypothalamus called the suprachiasmatic
nucleus (SCN), which receives light information from
the retina in the eye and sends the information to
other parts of the brain, including the gland that
releases the sleep-signaling hormone, melatonin,
says Rochelle Zozula, PhD, a sleep specialist and owner
of Sleep Services International in Bridgewater, New
Jersey. “Light suppresses that production of melatonin,
which is directly involved in sleep initiation,” she says.

That means the light signals you send your brain,

whether from sunlight or from glowing computer and
cellphone screens, are some of the key factors that can
either keep your sleep schedule on track, get it back
on track, or throw it o" signi#cantly.

Why Our Sleep Schedules Get O!

Track
Because our body clocks, which control our sleep
schedules, are sensitive to light, things like how much
sunlight we’re exposed to throughout the day and
what types of light we’re exposed to at night a"ect our
sleep schedules.

Additionally, things like traveling across time zones or

staying up a lot later than usual can throw o" sleep
patterns, because we’re asking our bodies to sleep at
di"erent times than our bodies’ internal clocks are
telling us to sleep. Similarly, people who do rotating
shift work, such as overnight workers or truck drivers
— for whom it’s di$cult to stick to a consistent sleep
schedule — tend to have di$culty with sleep because
their body clocks run on a di"erent schedule than
they’re allowing their bodies to follow.

It’s problematic, not only because on a day-to-day

basis, having a misaligned body clock and sleep
schedule can result in poor sleep quality (and you not
getting the sleep you need), but over time, that
misalignment has been found to be linked to several
chronic health problems, such as sleep disorders,
obesity, diabetes, depression, bipolar disorder, and
seasonal a"ective disorder, among others.

Having a severely misaligned body clock and sleep

schedule is itself considered a sleep disorder. About 1
percent of adults have advanced sleep phase disorder,
according to the National Sleep Foundation, meaning
they go to bed early, from 6 to 9 p.m., and wake up
early, between 1 and 5 a.m. (3)

Others, especially younger people, may experience the

opposite — delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS), or
going to bed extremely late and waking up late. It’s
estimated to a"ect as many as 15 percent of
teenagers, according to the Cleveland Clinic. (4)

“DSPS is a circadian rhythm disorder associated with

an inability to fall asleep at the individual’s desired
time [typically they fall asleep several hours later] and
an inability to wake up at the desired time,” says
Dr. Zozula. “Due to the individual’s daytime
obligations, a person with DSPS may be forced to wake
up earlier and go against their natural circadian
tendency.” This can lead to chronic sleep deprivation,
poor performance, and depression.

10 Tips for Resetting Your Sleep

Schedule
If you have fallen into a sleep schedule that’s not
working for you because you’re having trouble getting
up in the morning, staying up later than you want, or
whatever the case, what can you do? Try taking these
steps to get your sleep patterns on the track that
works for you:

Adjust your bedtime, but be patient. If you’re

aiming to go to sleep earlier, try slowly scaling back
your bedtime until you are at the desired hour.
Often you may need help from a physician with
this. “As a general rule, it’s easier to push away
sleep than to advance sleep,” says Rafael Pelayo,
MD, clinical professor at the Stanford Sleep
Disorders Clinic and the Stanford University School
of Medicine in California. “So you could stay up
later an hour at a time, but going to bed earlier is
hard to do.” To get to sleep earlier,
Dr. Pelayo recommends going slowly and in small
increments, adjusting no more than 15 minutes
earlier every two to three days.

Do not nap, even if you feel tired. Napping can

interfere with going to sleep at
night. Pelayo recommends scheduling exercise
when you feel like napping. “The exercise will chase
away the sleepiness. Then you can save up that
drive to sleep for later.”

Do not sleep in, and get up at the same time each

day. Being consistent is important in maintaining a
functioning sleep schedule. Get a good alarm
clock and don’t hit snooze. “The clock in your head
needs instructions,” says Pelayo. “It needs to know,
what is your desired time to get up. And the brain
expects that people more or less wake up at the
same time every day. The idea of weekends or
travel across time zones is foreign to how the brain
works. That’s what throws it o".” It’s also about
changing your state of mind and looking forward to
tomorrow with a sense of purpose. “You need
a reason to get out of bed,” notes Pelayo. “I like to
make a distinction between getting out of bed and
waking up. They’re not the same thing. You need a
reason that you enjoy to get out of bed.”

Be strict about sticking to your sleep

schedule. Once you have reached a workable
bedtime and a consistent wake up time, don’t allow
yourself to stray from it. Even one late night can
ruin the progress you’ve made. Predictability is key.

Avoid exposure to light before you want to

sleep. According to research published in June
2014 in the journal Photochemistry
and Photobiology, exposure to evening light can
shift your body clock to a later schedule. (5) And
study authors note that “reducing household light
exposure before bedtime is a simple and e"ective
step towards reducing circadian misalignment.”
When possible, if you’re trying to go to sleep
earlier, avoid bright and outdoor light close to
bedtime (that includes light from cellphone, laptop,
and TV screens) and keep your surroundings dim
at night.

Avoid eating or exercising too close to

bedtime. Exercise can wake you up,
explains Pelayo. And food can give you heartburn,
which could keep you up. Also watch out for
ca"eine and nicotine, both of which are stimulants.

Set the mood and create a relaxing bedtime

routine. Take a warm bath and play some relaxing
music, for instance. Make sure your bed is
comfortable, the room is dark, and the
temperature is not too warm. “You want people to
look forward to sleeping. Going to sleep should not
be a chore,” adds Pelayo.

Try melatonin (with monitoring by a health

professional). Melatonin supplements might help,
but there could be side e"ects for some people, as
well as contraindications with other medicines
(both prescribed and over-the-counter). So check
with your doctor before trying this strategy.

Try light therapy to readjust your

rhythm. Consider “bright-light therapy,” a timed
exposure to bright light in the morning. Though
you can do this under a doctor’s care, Pelayo notes
that over-the-counter devices marketed
for seasonal a"ective disorder (SAD) can be used
for shifting your circadian rhythm. “It’s really very
safe,” he notes, “though it’s a good idea to make
sure you don’t have any eye disease, any diseases
of your retina, so you should have your doctor
check you. But most healthy, young people with
good vision can just use the devices for seasonal
a"ective disorder with very little likelihood of
running into trouble.” It’s most e"ective to use the
light as close to your wake up time as
possible, Pelayo adds. “Hours later, the light won’t
matter, it won’t shift your cycles.” You want your
brain to understand that your wake-up time is
dawn.

Schedule a visit with your healthcare provider. If

your sleep schedule is interfering with job and
other responsibilities, if the above strategies don’t
work, or if you’re struggling with sleep in any way,
tell your doctor. Sleep a"ects our functioning and
our health now, as well as our long-term health.
Chronically not getting good sleep can do a lot of
damage, and there are healthcare providers out
there who can help. If your primary care provider
does not have expertise in sleep, she or he can
refer you to a sleep specialist who can help.

How long it will likely take to reset your clock depends

on what’s causing you to be o". If you’re simply
adjusting after being in a di"erent time zone, “the rule
of thumb is that it usually takes one day per time
zone,” Pelayo says. “But some people take two weeks
to adjust, if it’s a really long trip.”

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For people with a condition like DSPS, getting back on

track depends on how long the pattern has been
entrenched. “We tell people to wait one or two
months,” says Pelayo. “If people have had poor sleep
for years, they’re surprised when they start getting
better. And when you’re surprised about your sleep
getting better, that wakes you up, because you’re not
sure it’s going to keep working. It takes maybe two
months for the novelty of sleeping well to wear o".”

Changing your sleep schedule (particularly if you have

delayed sleep phase syndrome) isn’t easy, but with the
proper discipline it can be done. “Don’t get upset with
yourself, because it just makes the problem
worse,” Pelayo says. “Know that sleep will always come
eventually.”

With additional reporting by Deb Shapiro.

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