fixing your body clock

Do you find yourself wide awake when everyone in your house would be already be fast asleep, and then consequently waking up at odd timings the next day just to compensate for the night before?

The earliest I used to go to bed was at 2AM, and I would always struggle to wake up in the morning the next day if I had work. If I didn't have to go to work, I would sleep until 2PM in the afternoon. That was how messed up my body clock was.

Today I'm going to share some tips that I found helpful in fixing my body clock back to normal!

1. Start slow and increase gradually

As with beginning a new routine, it's always helpful to start out slow. If you're going to bed at 2AM every night, you can't expect to suddenly be able to fall asleep at 10PM. Well, unless you're one of those people who can fall asleep anytime, anywhere. But I doubt so, otherwise, you shouldn't be here looking for advice to fix your body clock!

When we get so used to sleeping at a certain time, it's usually difficult to change it unless you're extremely tired. What you could do is to try going to bed one hour before your current sleep time, and then increasing the amount slowly as you go.

For example, if you're sleeping at 2AM, try going to bed at 1AM for the rest of the week and see if you can fall asleep. If you have no trouble falling asleep at 1AM, then feel free to reduce it to 12AM, 11PM and so on until you reach your goal!

2. Fix the root cause

You should analyze why you're sleeping so late in the first place and see if it can be rectified.

For example, you're sleeping late every night because of school work, so see if you're able to do them earlier in the day so you could sleep earlier at night. If you're sleeping late simply because you are used to being on your phone before bed, you should make it a point to unplug at a certain time. The "if-then" plan that I mentioned in my habits post could be useful in this case! You could formulate an action plan as such — "if the time reaches 12AM and I'm still awake, then I will off my phone and go to bed."

3. Allow time to settle in bed

It's not always that once you land on your bed, you'll fall asleep. Plan to go to bed about 30 minutes earlier so you have time to settle in and get cozy before falling asleep!

4. Always wake up at same time

I find that always waking up at the same no matter what time you go to bed helps me to get my body clock back on track.

For example, if I go to bed at 10PM, I wake up at 8.30AM. If I go to bed at 12AM, I would still wake up at 8.30AM. This makes it easier for me to go to bed at 10PM again the next day. Otherwise, if I go to bed at 12AM and end up waking up later at say, 11AM, I would find it difficult to go to bed at 10PM again the next day.

So push yourself to get up once your alarm rings and not snooze and go back to bed!

5. Stick to it

Once you have established a fixed sleeping time, try to stick to it. It means your body is slowly getting used to your current sleep schedule. Go to bed at the same time and wake up at the same time, even on weekends. Trust me, it gets easier by the day and it'll be second nature for you before you know it.

6. Improve your quality of sleep

Taking steps to improve the quality of your sleep helps you to fall asleep easier at night. Once you are able to fall asleep and get up at a certain timing, it makes it easier for you to continue doing so for the subsequent days ahead.

I hope you find this post useful in helping you reset your body clock!