There is a very fast way to shift your sleep-wake schedule, whether for travel, becoming an early riser (or late riser) or accommodating shift work.
It starts with timing your light exposure correctly and knowing your temperature minimum — which is a time not a temperature, so you don’t need any technology to do this. Let me explain:
Your temperature minimum is your lowest body temperature in each 24-hour cycle. You don’t need to measure your body temperature to know it, as it occurs approximately two hours before your usual wake-up time.
If you typically wake up at 7 a.m., your temperature minimum is very likely to be between 4:30 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. Know your temperature minimum by knowing your typical wake-up time, irrespective of whether you use an alarm clock. Again, this is a time, not a temperature.
The key: If you get bright light exposure to your eyes in the 1-2 hrs after your temperature minimum, you will adjust your circadian clock such that it will make you want to go to sleep earlier that night and wake up earlier in the subsequent mornings. Perfect for traveling east.
Conversely, if you get bright light exposure to your eyes in the 1-2 hours before your temperature minimum, you will shift your circadian clock such that it will make you want to go to sleep later and wake up later in the subsequent nights. Perfect for traveling west.
Here's the second key issue: We are referring to the time of your temperature minimum in the city/location before you leave! This is vital to understand. Get it right and you’ll shift fast across time zones. Get it wrong and it can be a mess.
Why? Well, think about this. Imagine you fly from San Francisco to London (+8 hours). You land in the morning London time and the sun is out. Huberman said get morning sunlight in your eyes, right?
Yes, but for the first two to three days in London before you adjust your clock, viewing that London morning sunlight is the same to your brain’s clock as getting a giant blast of light in your eyes at midnight San Francisco time.
So, guess what? You just made your body want to go to bed much later and wake up later. You got it backward. Many people sleep well their first night after flying east, wake up, see sunlight and the second night is a mess. They can’t sleep!
It would be better to wear dark sunglasses during the two to three hours before your temperature minimum for the first two days in London. However, be sure to get sunlight in your eyes during the afternoon London time, which is one to two hours after your temperature minimum.
Here, I am just using London as an example. You must figure it out based on your own travel. I know it sounds complicated, but if you know the time of your temperature minimum back home and what is shared above, you'll nail this protocol easily.
The other way to shift your clock is to exercise and eat on the local schedule where you arrive. Our body’s clock entrains to light cycles first, but exercise and feeding also entrain the clock.
To learn more about how to shift your clock for the sake of travel, wanting to be an early riser (or late riser) or shift work, see this 30-minute Huberman Lab Essentials episode. go.hubermanlab.com
Thank you to the head of the chronobiology @NIMHgov @SamerHattar for chiming in on this as well. He’s been on the Huberman Lab podcast and is a wonderful source of information about light and circadian rhythms.
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