If you’re hitting snooze on repeat and struggling to get out of bed, something has got to give.
“Some people have an easy time falling asleep earlier in the evening, and they’re most likely to wake up in the morning naturally. But this doesn’t apply to everyone,” says John Cline, PhD, a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in sleep medicine who is based in Cheshire, Connecticut.
The key lies inside your body. Your chronotype, or your natural sleep schedule (one of your circadian rhythms), is within your genetic makeup. You may be an “early bird,” a “night owl,” or somewhere in between, according to Michelle Drerup, PsyD, a psychologist and director of the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program at Cleveland Clinic.
But there are ways to recalibrate your system to get the sleep you need, so that despite your DNA, you wake up feeling refreshed and ready to tackle the day ahead.
“Most of us are aware that habits can be hard to change and break, but when someone is motivated to make this change and puts forth intention and effort consistently, you typically can reset your sleep schedule to an earlier morning wake time,” Dr. Drerup says.
1. Shift Your Wake-Up Time Gradually
Slow and steady wins the race, according to Drerup. That means you shouldn’t jump from a 9 a.m. wake-up time to a 7 a.m. wake-up call too quickly, such as within a day. If you cut your sleep time, your body won’t get the rest it needs, and the reset won’t be sustainable.
The best way to successfully shift your sleep cycle is to do so gradually in 15- to 20-minute increments. “Ideally, you should give yourself at least three nights to get comfortable with the new schedule before you shift an additional 15 to 20 minutes,” she says.
With this in mind, it should take slightly over a week to shift to an hour earlier wake-up time.
2. Don’t Sleep Late on the Weekends
If you’re running on empty by the time Friday rolls around, you may dream of a Saturday sleep-in session. But staying in bed until 11 a.m. on the weekend will unravel your efforts during the week, interrupting your natural body clock.
This also applies to people in a hybrid work situation who sleep late on at-home work days too.
But if you’re going to indulge and sleep in on the weekend, limit it to an extra hour, Drerup says.
3. Wind Down Two Hours Before Bedtime
Build an evening routine that helps you relax and primes you for bedtime, says Colleen Carney, PhD, an associate professor and director of the Sleep and Depression Laboratory at Ryerson University in Toronto.
Start by shutting down all goal-directed activities. “That means no work emails, no homework, no rigorous workouts. Nothing that will be difficult to ease out of,” Dr. Carney says.
This is your time to wind down, read a novel, journal, or meditate, Dr. Cline says. “I’m a big fan of switching to reading a paperback instead of on a screen, as long as you’re not reading Stephen King or something thrilling. It’s in this time period that we should focus on creating calm.”
Make sure your bedroom is “optimized” for sleep, too, according to Timothy Young, MD, a board-certified neurologist and sleep medicine specialist at Mayo Clinic based in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
Make use of curtains to block out light, invest in earplugs if your neighborhood is noisy, dim your lighting, and, if possible, turn off all notifications on your phone (except for emergencies). The aim: cool, dark, and quiet.
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