Sleep schedule all over the place? How to reset your body clock
Late nights, lie-ins, a holiday, a busy patch at work or a run of bad nights, and suddenly you are wide awake at 1am and dragging yourself up in the morning. Your body clock has drifted. The good news is that it can be nudged back, usually within a week or two.
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How your body clock drifts
Your body clock runs on a roughly 24 hour rhythm, set mainly by light, meal times and when you get up. Staying up late, sleeping in, using bright screens at night and getting little daylight all push it later. Once it has drifted, going to bed early often just means lying awake.
Start with the morning
The most powerful step is a fixed wake time, every day, including weekends. Set your alarm for the time you want to keep, get up when it goes, and get outside into daylight within the first hour. Even 10 minutes helps.
Do not try to fix it by going to bed hours earlier straight away. Let your bedtime follow your wake time.
Move bedtime gradually
- Bring your bedtime forward by 15 to 20 minutes every few nights
- Dim the lights and put screens away for the last hour
- Eat your evening meal at a regular time, not late at night
- Keep caffeine to the morning and alcohol low
- Keep naps short, around 20 minutes, and early in the afternoon
Keep it steady
Once your sleep feels on track, protect it. Try to keep your wake time within an hour or so at weekends. A big lie-in on Sunday is one of the quickest ways to slip back. If a late night happens, get up at your usual time and go to bed a little earlier the next night.
When to see a GP
Most people can reset their sleep with a steady routine. See your GP if your sleep pattern stays very late or very early despite trying for several weeks, if poor sleep has lasted 3 months or more, or if it is making work, study or life hard to manage.
If you have tried to get back on track and keep slipping
If you keep promising yourself an early night and then lie awake until 1am, you are not lazy and you are not alone. A drifted body clock fights back for a while.
What helps is a steady signal at bedtime that tells your body it is time. With hypnosis we help you relax on cue at the time you choose, and playing the same session each night helps your new rhythm stick. Many people find it easier to keep to a routine.
I am Adam Cox, a clinical hypnotherapist with 17 years in practice and post-graduate qualifications in clinical hypnotherapy. Sleep sessions are among the most listened to on my podcast, The Hypnotist, which has been downloaded more than 20 million times.
Sleep hypnosis downloads for this
Recorded sessions from my store. Download once, keep them, and play them in bed with your phone on night mode.
Questions people ask
How long does it take to reset your sleep schedule?
Most people notice a change within a week or two of keeping a fixed wake time and getting morning daylight.
Should I pull an all-nighter to reset my sleep?
It is usually better not to. Staying up all night tends to leave you exhausted and more out of rhythm. A fixed wake time works better.
What is the fastest way to fix my body clock?
Get up at the same time every day, get daylight soon after waking, and keep evening light low. Move bedtime earlier in small steps.
Do naps ruin your sleep schedule?
Long or late naps can. Keep naps to around 20 minutes and early in the afternoon if you need one.
Can hypnosis help me reset my sleep?
Hypnosis is designed to help you relax and fall asleep on cue. Many people find a regular bedtime session helps a new routine stick, although results vary.
Could hypnosis help your sleep?
Take my free sleep hypnosis suitability test. Tell me what keeps you awake, try two quick hypnosis experiments and get an honest answer, with your next step.
Want help to get your sleep back on track?
If recordings are not enough on their own, we can work on it together. Start with a £49 consultation call over Zoom. We talk through what happens at night and whether hypnotherapy is right for you, and the fee comes off your first session. If poor sleep has lasted 3 months or more, please see your GP too.
Further reading: NHS: Insomnia · NHS Every Mind Matters: Sleep