20 Powerful Strategies to Reset Your Circadian Rhythm

Your ability to get good quality sleep hinges on whether your circadian system is properly aligned with your desired day/night cycle.

If your brain and body think it’s still time to be awake when you want to go to bed, guess what? You ain’t goin’ to bed. *sassy finger snapping*

In this article, we’ll go over a ton of different strategies you can use to fix your circadian rhythm!

If you implement all of these you will fix your sleep cycle.

What is Your Circadian Rhythm?

Your circadian rhythm refers to the physical, mental, and behavioral changes that follow a roughly 24-hour cycle, responding primarily to the level of light in your environment.

We’re going to go over some strategies you can implement to make sure the right signals are being presented at the right time.

How to Reset Your Circadian Rhythm

I’m not going to get into the nerdy nitty-gritty circadian biology stuff here, there’s plenty of that out there already, this guide will focus on the practical application side of things.

So let’s dig into it!

1. Keep a Consistent Sleep Schedule

The most important thing to do is to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day.

If your circadian rhythm isn’t working properly, you might be having a hard time with this very simple and basic task.

Insomnia is the most common result of an unregulated circadian rhythm.

I dare say that if you follow every suggestion in this guide it would be near impossible for you to suffer from insomnia.

2. Keep Social Jet Lag to a Minimum!

Odds are that if you have friends that don’t take their sleep or health very seriously, they’re out late on the weekends.

Staying up late at night 1 to 2 days out of the week will create a ripple effect throughout the week where your circadian rhythm is playing catch up.

If you want to fix your sleep, you’re going to have to not do this.

Now, sometimes it’s unavoidable, and sometimes it’s worth doing for special events and quality of life. That’s okay.

It just shouldn’t be every single weekend forever.

One strategy you can implement to mitigate the downsides to spending a day out on the town is to purchase and wear a pair of blue-blocking glasses.

These will cut down on the amount of circadian-stimulating light entering your eyes and dim the environment a little bit too, helping you create melatonin at the proper time even though you’re staying up a bit later than usual.

We go over recommendations later in this guide, but you can jump to them now if you’d like.

3. Wake Up With a Sunrise Alarm Clock

Sunrise alarm clocks allow us to simulate morning dawn. This is important because when we utilize dawn simulation we start producing cortisol at an optimal time in our sleep cycle.

Dawn simulation has been shown to improve cognition as well as the feeling of being well-rested after waking up. [R] [R] [R]

How to Use a Sunrise Alarm Clock

You’ll want it to reach full brightness at your desired wake-up time. Setting it for a half hour is enough, although you can experiment with longer.

Don’t use the audible alarm functions! Being jolted out of your peaceful slumber at a specific time is going to defeat the purpose of this whole thing. Duh.

Here are some strategies to ensure you can use a non-audible alarm clock without the anxiety of not waking up on time:

1. Schedule the time: As an adult, you should be getting around 7-9 hours of sleep every 24 hours. Make sure you are giving yourself time for this. You should be able to wake up naturally to a dawn simulator alarm clock after 8 hours or so of sleep without the need for an audible alarm.
2. Step it back if you need to: If the thought of not using an alarm clock perturbs you, slowly step back your bedtime until you can comfortably risk sleeping in a bit in the morning. If you need to step it back by an hour, don’t try it all at once, do 10 minutes every 2-3 days.
3. Pay attention to your drowsiness: Even if you think you’re doing everything right, you may need more sleep. If you notice you’re consistently tired during the day (not just after lunch), you may need to go to bed earlier or have your dawn simulation turn on a little later. These things can take time to figure out.

With that being said here are the best sunrise alarm clocks:

4. Get Sunlight Exposure First Thing in the Morning

If you can, the absolute best thing you can do after waking up is to go get sunlight (assuming it’s not noon) directly into your eyes.

You’ll want to get around 15 to 30 minutes of this bright light exposure to ensure a good response.

This is especially important for those of you with any issues falling asleep or waking up. If the sun is out, go outside and go for a walk.

Bright light after waking will “phase-advance” all aspects of your circadian rhythm. This means you’ll produce more cortisol after waking, and you’ll produce melatonin sooner in the evening.

5. Buy a Light Therapy Lamp

If it’s winter time or you simply don’t have good direct access to bright sunlight in the morning, a good alternative is to buy yourself a light therapy lamp and use that instead.

We’ve tested over 30 of the most popular light therapy lamps such as Circadian Optics, Happy Lights, Carex Day-Lights, and many more!

You can access our light therapy lamp database below to compare all of the lamps we’ve tested to date!

Or if you’d like, I recently wrote up a best SAD lamps post you can check out.

6. Buy Some Light Therapy Glasses

If you have to leave for work first thing in the morning while it’s dark out, or you just don’t have time to bask in the sunlight, a pair of light therapy glasses is an essential tool for better circadian alignment.

We’ve personally reviewed several of the leading contenders here, such as the AYO, Luminette, and Re-Timer, and have written a best-of article you can check out if you’d like.

If you’re looking for the most effective portable light therapy, go with the Luminette, however, the AYO is much dimmer and more comfortable while still being very effective, so it’s also an excellent choice that I prefer.

7. Simulate the Natural Temperature Rise and Fall

Another interesting way to sync your circadian rhythm is to simulate the temperature rise normally seen at dawn.

It’s been shown that this fall and rise in ambient temperature can significantly improve sleep quality, body temperature regulation, and melatonin production. [R] [R]

How to Simulate Ambient Temperature Changes

Set your thermostat to drop by 5 degrees an hour before you go to bed. This will allow the house to begin cooling and continue cooling as you sleep.

Have the house begin to heat back up a couple of hours before you wake up!

If you don’t have control over the thermostat, or you just want even more control over this temperature hack, consider grabbing a BedJet.

8. Spend as Much Time Outside as You Can

Whether you’re at home or in the office, lux levels indoors are very low compared to even a cloudy overcast day.

Daytime is all about bright sunlight. The more bright light exposure you have, the better your sleep will be.

So as a general rule, just spend as much time as you can outside.

9. Get Your Office as Close to Windows as Possible

At work or at home, try to get your office space as close to a window as you can, south-facing windows are best. If this isn’t possible, then the east is second best, as a bright light in the morning is far more important than in the evening. Obviously, avoid glare and any other uncomfortable issues that can arise.

10. Mimic Sunlight if Necessary

If you’re trapped indoors all day long, whether that’s at home or in your work cubicle, you need to make sure you’re getting bright enough light in your eyes to thoroughly activate the circadian response.

My guide on How to Mimic Full Spectrum Sunlight Indoors is worth a read if you think you might benefit from this.

11. Stop Needlessly Wearing Sunglasses

There are modern environments where wearing sunglasses is efficacious, such as very shiny roads, snow, or water. But if you’re the type to just slap on a pair of shades simply because you’re outside, gasp. Stop it.

12. Limit Late Night Exercise

Intense physical activity within one hour of sleep may negatively affect sleep onset latency, total sleep time, and sleep efficiency. [R] [R]

Other than that, in general, exercise in the evening doesn’t appear to be associated with negative sleep outcomes or circadian phase delays. [R] [R] [R]

13. Keep Calories Lower in the Evening

It’s generally recommended to limit larger meals to earlier in the day/evening for various reasons.

1. Glucose tolerance is limited following melatonin secretion. [R] [R]
2. Gastric emptying is slower. [R]
3. Resting metabolic rate slows. [R]

So ideally, the evening is not the best time to consume a large number of calories.

However! There are studies and literature on evening meals and snacks not having much of a negative impact on healthy individuals.

• When shifting the evening meal from 5 hours before bed to 1 hour before bed in 20 healthy adults, no disruption in sleep quality was found. [R]
• Nighttime snack consumption does not appear to be detrimental, and may even be useful in some cases. [R]

That being said, it’s probably best to keep large meals 2-3 hours away from bedtime, but if you’re hungry before bed, you may find sleep comes easier and deeper if you indulge in a little snack, I know it does for me!

14. Develop a Good Nighttime Routine

Often overlooked, but a good nighttime routine can work wonders on sleep onset and sleep anxiety.

Many of us are GO-GO-GO all day long and don’t even realize just how stressed we are until we lay down to sleep and a flood of thoughts rush over us, preventing us from relaxing enough to drift off.

Giving yourself time to unwind and listen to your thoughts, before trying to fall asleep, can be a very useful strategy for some people.

We go over strategies for creating one of these in our article on Bedtime Routine Ideas.

15. Turn on Dim Warm Lighting Before Bed

As a general rule, it’s important that we keep our lighting dim and warm before bed.

In one study using a 4000K light source and around 50 participants, levels of just 6-10 lux were enough to suppress melatonin by 50% in some people. While others did not reach 50% suppression until light levels reached 400 lux.

So it would appear that some people are hyper-responders to evening light exposure. This could be due in part to dim light adaptation. in which it has been noticed that evening and night exposure to bright light suppresses melatonin more in individuals who spend their day under dim lighting. [R] [R]

All the more reason to make sure you’re getting adequate amounts of bright light exposure during the day!

If you don’t already own some, I urge you to check out our round-up article on the Best Lights for Sleeping!

16. Grab a Pair of Blue Blocking Glasses

If you can’t fully control the light you’re surrounded by in the evening, the next best thing is a good pair of blue blockers.

Orange or amber glasses will block most blue light, while red glasses will block most of the blue and green light.

If you’re at all doubtful or hesitant as to the effectiveness of blue-blocking glasses, you can check out our post on the science behind blue-blocking glasses here.

We’ve tested over 30 of the best blue-blocking glasses in our database, so take a look there if you’re curious to see how various kinds stack up!

The choice of lens color depends on how bad you’re sleep is and how sensitive you find yourself to stimulating blue and green light.

Recommended Blue Blockers:

17. Block the Blue Light From Your Phone

If you have any trouble sleeping at all, I recommend complete abstinence from electronics an hour or two before bed.

However, if you’re going to use them anyway, it should be done responsibly!

Set Night Shift to turn on about two hours before your bedtime if you have an iPhone and do the same for whatever your brand Android calls it.

Here’s an example of what Night Shift does to the light output of an iPhone:

But you can block even more than that with a red light filter, and this can be automated!

18. Block the Blue Light From Your Computer

Use a Web Page Darkening App

You can drastically cut down on blue light and the overall brightness emitted from your computer by installing Dark Reader on your web browser. This website has its own night mode, as you will have hopefully seen.

Download the IRIS App

IRIS is an application that allows for better dimming control on Windows machines, which I consider essential. If you own a webcam, you can let IRIS use that for monitor auto-dimming, even if your computer doesn’t support such a thing.

Download the Lunar App

If you own a MacBook, you owe it to yourself to get Lunar on it. Lunar gives you far more control over dimming, including the ability to auto-dim external monitors in sync with your laptop.

19. Make Sure Your Bedroom is Dark!

As you go to sleep, it’s important to keep your bedroom dark at night.

The natural night is extremely dark, and you don’t want any man-made light causing your body any confusion about what time of day it is.

Make sure your room is blackout dark at night, you shouldn’t be able to see your hands move in front of your face.

Use a combination of blackout shades and blackout curtains if you have to, the darker the better. When setting up curtains, use a wraparound rod. You can also use a draft stopper to block light from under the door.

20. Use a Sleep Mask if You Have Too

Everybody needs a good sleep mask. If you can’t get your room dark enough, either your partner is reading with the light on, or you’re traveling, a sleep mask is the solution.