Is It Possible To Reset Your Circadian Rhythms?

Good sleep is hard to come by. Between work-related stress, studying, maintaining relationships and the temptation of a late-night TikTok scroll, winding down at night isn't always easy. While we power through our busy schedules with multiple coffees and sheer adrenaline, the ongoing impact of poor sleep can be detrimental to our health.

"We know that concentration, attention span and memory are all reduced by insufficient quality sleep," Professor Dorothy Bruck, sleep health expert and sleep psychologist, tells Refinery29 Australia. "There are also long-term effects of ongoing poor sleep, with your cardiovascular system being more prone to problems as well as a higher risk of chronic illness like diabetes and mental illnesses such as depression."

"We all understand that you don’t look your best when you are haven’t slept well for a while. We may see pale skin, puffy ‘bags’ under the eyes and perhaps drawn or saggy features," added Professor Bruck, explaining the impact poor sleep has on the skin.

"In fact, ongoing poor sleep — such as less than six hours a night — affects the overall appearance and integrity of our skin in ways that can actually be measured. Sleep really is beauty sleep."

So, how do you start to retrain your body's approach to sleep? Luckily for us, we're spoilt with products and apps that can do a little bit of assistance in this department — with everything from weighted blankets, to Estee Lauder's Advanced Night Repair serum that assists in easing the skin into a restful night's sleep.

However, there is a key to unlocking their full potential — according to Professor Bruck, the secret to good sleep lies in circadian rhythms, which are our body's internal way of understanding routine.

Professor Bruck describes circadian rhythms as our body’s routine, which consists of our sleep, hunger and urine production schedule. These are impacted by various hormones produced by our body, such as melatonin and cortisol, as well as other events over the course of 24 hours.

"One of the most important and well-known circadian rhythms is the sleep-wake cycle and, therefore, it's most commonly associated with circadian rhythms," she says.

According to Professor Bruck, the best quality sleep occurs when you are in tune with your circadian rhythms due to the body’s ability to effectively secrete the sleep hormone melatonin.

"If you always go to bed too early and before the sleep cycle has been primed with melatonin, it can be difficult to fall asleep, causing fragmented sleep throughout the night, which is not what you want," said Professor Bruck.

She also notes that melatonin is not the only thing that can determine good sleep, as stimulants like caffeine or nicotine can interrupt sleep, as well as overstimulation from things like watching intense movies, gaming, exercising and working late at night.  

"50 per cent of people had trouble falling asleep at least weekly," Professor Bruck says, unpacking the results found in a survey of 1000 Australians conducted by Melotin MR and The Sleep Health Foundation.

If you are worried that your days of good sleep may be gone, don't fear. Professor Bruck assures us that the body's circadian rhythms can be retrained with good habits.

"Circadian rhythms are internally generated by a structure deep within the brain. However, they are reset by the light and dark cycle (day and night) through the action of the hormone melatonin," she explains.

"For example, your circadian rhythm will slowly reset if you fly to a different time zone or go from day to night shifts. The secret is to ensure that when it is daytime and light outside, you stay in the natural light as much as possible. This is what helps to reset the circadian rhythm, helping you to enjoy a well-rested sleep."

Professor Bruck recommends having a "buffer zone" of at least one to two hours to dedicate to relaxing activities before bed.

"During this buffer zone, avoid the blue light of computers and similar screens, or if this can’t be avoided, you can stay away from blue light by apps that change screens to an orange hue during night hours," she says. She also noted that watching TV isn't a bad 'wind-down' activity, however avoiding overly-emotion viewing is optimal.

I've been on a pursuit to land on a decent bedtime routine for years. While I may not have completely nailed it yet (I'm still not ready to give up my late-night TikTok binges), there are a few things, like my nighttime skincare routine, that always ground me — especially when juggling a hectic schedule. I know I'm not alone in saying my skin has been through it after two years of the pandemic (stress, coupled with intense blue light exposure, does wonders for the skin), so using products like Estée Lauder's Advanced Night Repair serum (which has been found to help activate the skin's rhythms because of its hydrating potential) is a great way to ease into a relaxed mood before bed.

Professor Bruck also highlights the importance of having a regular wake-up time in helping you reset your circadian rhythms. "If you have irregular sleep and wake times, that is a clear indicator that your circadian rhythm is not working with you," she said.

"The best way to reset it is to decide on a wake-up time, say 7:30 am. Try your best to stick to that time each morning, hop out of bed and soak up as much morning light as possible and as soon as you wake up. You can use this morning light time as an excuse for a morning walk but aim for at least 30 minutes of morning light exposure."

Lastly, Professor Bruck notes that healthy sleep is also influenced by how we think about sleep and that many people mistake moving in and out of light sleep with being awake for extended periods of the night.

"These brief awakenings are a very normal part of sleep. Try to minimise the frustration you may be feeling in the moment and think ‘rest is good’, and reminisce on pleasant memories as a way to encourage sleep and minimise negative thoughts and anxiety around wake-ups."