![]() ![]() “You should put filters on your phone to change the color of your display. Before you run screaming for the exit, there are ways to tweak your device. Yes, that means turning off your smartphone, laptop, gaming device and TV a lot earlier than you may want to. Go dark in the evenings: The flip side of the circadian reset is to turn down the lights at a much earlier time in the evening, especially blue light from electronic devices, which “only pushes your biological clock later,” Klerman said. “Continue to extend brighter light intermittently throughout the entire morning.” Those are easier for many of my patients because you can put them on in bed, and then get up and walk around with these glasses while you are brushing your teeth and getting ready.”ĭon’t stop there, Zee added. If you do that, then I suggest using light (therapy) goggles. “The problem with these lights is that a lot of people don’t wake up to them or keep shutting them off. Getting natural light in the winter isn’t easy, so some people use products that brighten slowly until the alarm sounds. Use natural sunlight if possible, or turn on artificial lights, especially those in the blue spectrum, which tells the body to wake up. You are also training all your rhythms, whether it’s sleep, blood pressure, heart rate or your cortisol rhythm to be earlier.”įlood your eyes with light as soon as that pesky alarm goes off. “The strongest reset for the circadian system is bright light,” Zee said, “Light in the morning changes the oscillation of your circadian clock genes at both a cellular and molecular level. Let there be morning light: The first and most important change is to control the timing and type of light you see every morning, Zee said. ![]() Sleep experts have several techniques to alter your body clock if you’re willing to do them. While you might not be able to change your genetic predisposition, you don’t have to let it control you. Night owls also have higher levels of visceral body fat in the abdominal region, a key risk factor for type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Studies have shown evening types are more likely to skip breakfast eat more later in the day and use more tobacco, alcohol and caffeine. Your body clock also directs when you feel hunger, feel sluggish, and are peppy enough to exercise, so being a night owl may have a downside for your health. Night owls, however, secrete melatonin much later, pushing peak activity and alertness later into the afternoon and evening. If you’re an innate early bird, your circadian rhythm releases melatonin earlier than the norm, energizing you to become more active in the morning. Your inherited sleep chronotype may alter that process. When the sun goes down, your body clock turns melatonin production back on, triggering sleepiness within a few hours. Daylight enters your eyes, travels to your brain and suppresses the production of melatonin, a hormone that promotes sleep. Nature marries our sleep-wake cycle to the Earth’s rotation. We can say what works, and then you have to decide if you want to do it,” Klerman said. Elizabeth Klerman, a professor of neurology in the division of sleep medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston. Success is also dependent on how much you are willing to work to change behaviors that affect sleep, said Dr. ![]() “It’s like if you have a gene for diabetes, right? You can modify that with your lifestyle, but it doesn’t change it,” Zee said. Phyllis Zee, director of the Center for Circadian and Sleep Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Illinois. “We can make you less of a night owl, but not completely, because the genetic tendency, or predisposition, is still there,” said Dr. How successful you will be at changing your sleep preferences, however, may be dependent on your genes and your willpower. The answer for most night owls is “Yes, you can,” according to sleep experts. Yet getting up early to meet life’s responsibilities is the bleary-eyed reality of most late-to-bed types - leading many exhausted night owls to wonder: “Can I reprogram my biological clock to be an early riser?” ![]() If your body and brain fail to rev up until later in the day, you’re likely a night owl, naturally programmed to enjoy staying up late and sleeping in past traditional school and work start times. Business & Finance Click to expand menu. ![]()
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