How To "Reset" Your Internal Clock For Deeper Sleep & Better Overall Health

During a recent trek off the grid, I swapped my cell phone for a book and bedside lamp for a campfire and was amazed by what it did for my sleep.

I tend to be more of a night owl and thought there was no way I'd be able to adjust to falling asleep at 9 p.m. and waking up at the crack of dawn, as others on the trip were doing. But by night three of sleeping in a tent, all I had to do was look up at the dark, starry sky and a wave of relaxation would wash over me immediately. Eight hours later, I'd wake up without an alarm, with the type of energy that usually only comes with a cup of coffee.

Lockley confirmed that yes, our bodies have the ability to adjust to new lighting cues (hence why we get over jet lag eventually)—and camping is a great way to quickly sync up with the natural light-dark cycles of the day.

We even have research to prove it: A pair of studies out of the University of Colorado–Boulder sent people on a weeklong camping trip during the winter1 and summer2. Participants measured their internal clocks (via saliva samples that showed melatonin levels) before and after the excursion, and sure enough, after a week of sleeping under the stars, these clocks more closely matched the natural cycles of light and dark.

"The system is flexible. It can shift, and it can shift quite quickly," Lockley tells me. This is important because the way society is set up right now really doesn't do our clocks any favors. Late-night screen time and days spent in dark rooms separate us from the light-dark cycles of the sun and moon, causing our internal clocks to go a bit haywire. These clocks—housed in the hypothalamus region of the brain—serve as essential timekeepers for the entire body. If they're irregular and out of sync, you can bet that other important processes are too; from sleep to digestion to immune function.

Exposing yourself to plenty of light during the day and darkness at night is a huge investment in your health. But in the age of technology and artificial lighting, it's something you have to be pretty diligent about.

If you spend a lot of time indoors, outfitting your home with the right lighting can set you up for success. Lockley has a smart hack for how to do so. In every room, aim to have two light sources. In the kitchen, it can be overhead lighting and under-cabinet lights. In the bedroom, maybe it's a larger light and a bedside table lamp.

You can further train your rhythm by limiting technology use after sunset. Our screens—particularly the ones we hold really close to our faces, like cellphones and laptops—flood our eyes with stimulating blue light, sending the not-so-subtle signal that we should stay awake.

If you need to use these devices, Lockley recommends programming them to emit a dimmer, less intense red light (here's one free app that makes it easy). But if you can help it, he suggests avoiding them altogether for as long as you can before bed, with the goal being to shut them down two to three hours before shut-eye.

Two people who live in the same time zone, the same city, and even the same home can actually run on totally different internal clocks. Thanks to lab studies where lighting is strictly controlled3, we now know that circadian clocks exist on a continuum. On average, they can range from running on a 23.5-hour cycle to a 25-hour cycle, and the 1.5-hour gap in between explains why some people are night owls and others are morning birds.

It might not sound like much of a difference, but Lockley explains that for every shift in circadian time, there is a fourfold shift in clock time. This means that someone who has a short circadian cycle could feel six time zones away from someone with a long one—yet be expected to function on the same schedule.

Lockley refers to the brain's circadian rhythm as the almighty "conductor of the orchestra" but notes that it's not the only internal clock we have. Far from it.