How to Reset your Circadian Clocks
Circadian (sleep) rhythms are real biological processes that every plant, animal, and human exhibits over the course of a day.
We have one master circadian clock in our brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus which communicates and manages the other 20,000 circadian clocks throughout your body. Each of your cells has a circadian clock that communicates with a gene that it turns on and off which dictates how you function and feel at every moment throughout the day.
It only takes 1-2 days to mess up your circadian rhythms. Good news is that you have complete control and can hit the reset button and start optimizing your circadian rhythm to help you lose weight, have more energy, and improve your health.
Sleep is the beginning of your biological day, not the end. Start every new day by resetting your circadian clocks so that for the next 12 hours so you can function and feel fantastic, then in those final 4 hours naturally get tired from your circadian clocks winding down your energy levels, and boosting up your melatonin levels so they can tag team with your adenosine levels that have been slowly building up in your brain all day. This combination will help you effortlessly fall asleep, stay asleep for 7 hours, and have terrific sleep quality, upgrading your health tomorrow.
How do you reset your circadian clocks?
The first significant dosage of light resets the master circadian clock and the 20,000 circadian clocks it controls
The first bite of food, coffee, tea, or anything that isn’t water resets your gut and liver circadian clocks
How do you trigger the resets?
1.Make a conscious effort to wake up when the sun is still very low in the sky, get outside ASAP, and enjoy the morning sunrise (no sunglasses or windows) absorbing 100,000 Lux of sunlight
This doesn't mean stare straight into the sun and damage your retinas, just be outside in that unique blue light quality that only the sun can give you when it’s low on the horizon and the high lux output of light.
This gives you a few immediate benefits:
Energy boost
Boost work productivity 2 hours later from increased BDNF levels
Peak your melatonin levels 14-16 hours later to make it effortless to fall asleep and stay asleep all night long
How long do you need to be outside to get 100,000 Lux?
There's a free app you can get called light meter for iPhone users or lux meter for android phone users that will tell you how intense the Lux exposure is. It’s simple to use:
Open the app and point your phone at a light source
The lux measurement will appear in the bottom right corner of your phone
Then open your calculator, type in 100,000 and divide that by the lux number, and that’s how many minutes it will take to reset all of your circadian clocks.
For example, let's say you get outside and check the Lux measurement and it is 10,000. Then you take 100,000 divided by 10,000 which equals 10. Therefore it will only take you 10 minutes to reset your brain and the rest of your cells' circadian clocks.
If you are traveling for work or pleasure soon and want to shift your circadian rhythms to the time zone there so you can function and feel great when you get there, do the following:
Traveling East
Get 100,000 Lux within 2 hours of waking up and you’ll shift your circadian clocks 1-3 hours earlier.
You’ll find that you want to go to sleep earlier that night and wake up earlier the next day.
If the sun is up great, use that, otherwise you’ll have to use an artificial sun lamp device.
Wait, why would I want to do that?
If you live in Minnesota and are taking a trip to St. Thomas U.S. Virgin Island, there’s a 2 hour time difference. If you are used to going to bed at 10pm, when you get there you won’t get naturally sleepy until midnight. If you travel there and try to adjust naturally to your usual bedtime and wakeup time, it will likely take you 2 days until you can function/feel great. If you don’t want it to take those 2 days to adjust, then you need to shift your circadian clocks 2 hours earlier in Minnesota before you leave.
Traveling West
Get 100,000 Lux 6-8 hours before you’d want to wake up you’ll shift your circadian clocks 1-3 hours later.
You’ll find that you want to go to sleep later that night and wake up later the next day.
If the sun is up great, use that, otherwise you’ll have to use an artificial sun lamp device.
Wait, why would I want to do that?
If you live in Minnesota and are taking a trip to California, there’s a 2 hour time difference. If you are used to going to bed at 10pm, when you get there, you will get naturally sleepy at 8pm. If you travel there and try to adjust naturally to your usual bedtime and wakeup time, it will likely take you 2 days until you can function/feel great. If you don’t want it to take those 2 days to adjust, then you need to shift your circadian clocks 2 hours later before you leave.
In case you're wondering why it isn't recommended to wear sunglasses or do this through windows of your house/car?
If the sunlight comes into your eyes through sunglasses, a car/house window, it lowers the lux that enters your eyes 15 fold. This could result in the difference of resetting your circadian clocks in 10 minutes with your sunglasses off and actually outside to 2.5 hours.
In case you're wondering why it isn't recommended to use indoor lighting to do this, here you go?
In most cases indoor lighting is at the wrong angle, the wrong color of blue light, and a much lower lux number.
The average lux intensity of indoor lighting from a home/office could range from 150-1,000 Lux meaning it will take you 1 hour 40 minutes to 11 hours to reset your circadian clocks. This is far too long and will result in you needing to stay up later until you can fall asleep, wake up multiple times per night, and wake up a few hours before your alarm and unable to go back to sleep.
The sun will output 3,000 lux on a cloudy day taking you 33 minutes to reset your clocks.
The sun will output 10,000 -100,000 lux on a sunny day, depending on how far from the equator you are, taking you 1-10 minutes to reset your clocks.
If it is insanely cold outside, raining, or too cloudy, there’s a terrific indoor alternative to reset your circadian clocks indoors using artificial light. There's skinny and portable light that you can purchase that puts out up to 10,000 lux of light per minute, that sits on any flat surface, is recommended by sleep doctors, and that I've personally evaluated that it puts out the lux that it claims, which is the Light Therapy Lamp by Circadian Optics.
2. Eat breakfast, drink coffee, or drink tea at the same time you are working on resetting your brain and body circadian clocks to reset the gut and liver circadian clocks
As soon as you put anything but water in your mouth gastric juices, genes, and hormones get to work. Doing this will successfully reset your gut and liver circadian clocks, which those 2 organs only function optimally for the next 10-11 hours, then shut off, which is what allows you to peak your melatonin levels 14-16 hours later to make it effortless to fall asleep and stay asleep all night long.
Next Steps
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References
Huberman, A., & Walker, M. (2024, April 3). Matt Walker: The biology of sleep and your unique sleep needs. other. Retrieved May 3, 2024, from https://www.hubermanlab.com/episode/guest-series-dr-matthew-walker-the-biology-of-sleep-your-unique-sleep-needs.
Panda, S. (2018) The circadian code: Lose weight, supercharge your energy, and sleep well every night. London: Vermilion.