How to Reset Your Circadian Rhythm With Natural Light

Before you read: this article talks about raw eggs, raw meat and raw cheese. Raw animal foods carry a risk of food poisoning. Buy from a farmer you trust, keep it fresh and make your own call.

Light is the master switch.

Your body has a clock. It times when you wake, when you get hungry, when your energy peaks and when you get sleepy.

Light sets that clock.

The modern man gets it backwards.

Inside all day under ceiling lights. Sunglasses on the one time they step outside. Bright screens until midnight.

Then they wonder why they can’t fall asleep, and why they wake up flat.

You’re not broken.

You’re living under the wrong light.

Sunlight is natural light. Blue light is artificial and fake.

Just like fake food is junk food that harms your health, fake light harms your health on many different levels.

The type of light diet you live on changes how your body metabolises energy. Artificial blue light leads to body fat gain, stress, anxiety, trouble focusing and trouble sleeping.

Here is how to reset your circadian rhythm, the natural way.

What is your circadian rhythm?

Your circadian rhythm is your body’s daily clock. It runs on a cycle of roughly 24 hours.

It decides when you feel awake and when you feel tired. It shapes your energy, your appetite and the quality of your sleep.

The strongest signal that clock listens to is light.

Bright light in the morning tells it the day has started.

Darkness in the evening tells it the night is coming.

When the light around you matches the sun, your clock runs on time. When it doesn’t, your whole day drifts.

The proof: what happens when you go camping

There’s a great study on this.

Researchers measured people’s body clocks in normal modern life, then again after they lived on natural light only, out camping.

Under modern electric lighting, people got less sun during the day and more light after sunset. Their internal clocks ran late.

After natural light only, their internal night started around sunset and finished just after sunrise. The night owls shifted the most. (Wright et al., Current Biology, 2013)

Read that again.

The night owl moved the most.

Those who call themselves night people are just living under the wrong light.

What throws your body clock off

Living behind glass

A bright room isn’t the same as the sun.

When sunlight comes through a glass window, it changes the spectrum of the light.

Your skin doesn’t even produce its sunlight hormones through a window.

Sitting by the window at work doesn’t count. You have to get outside.

Bright light after dark

This is the big one.

In one study, people who read on a light-emitting device before bed took longer to fall asleep than when they read a printed book. They made less melatonin, their body clock ran later, and they were less alert the next morning. (Chang et al., PNAS, 2015)

Screens in bed. Overhead lights in the kitchen at 10pm. The fridge light at midnight.

Every bit of it tells your body it’s still daytime.

Light from the wrong angle

The sun sits overhead at midday.

At night, the only light our ancestors had was fire, low to the ground.

So overhead lighting after dark sends the wrong signal. That’s why I keep any night light low, at or below eye level.

Flicker

You can’t consciously see it, but your eyes and your brain are processing the flicker of artificial lights. It happens hundreds of times a second.

This stresses the brain.

Long days under office lights can leave you wired and drained at the same time.

Natural light, like firelight in the evening, doesn’t do that. In fact, it’s the opposite. It’s a healing spectrum.

Firelight is captured sunlight.

Think about it. Sunlight grows the trees. They capture that energy and turn it into wood. When we burn the wood, we release that energy again.

It’s a beautiful cycle.

How to reset your circadian rhythm: step by step

Step 1: First light, outside, no glass

This is the most important step.

Get outside as soon as you can after you wake up. Before your phone. Before your coffee.

Get direct, unfiltered light into your eyes. No sunglasses. No window. No windscreen.

Get bare skin out too, wherever you can.

Watch the sunrise if you’re up for it. If the sun is already up, still get out.

Give it at least 10 minutes. Stay out longer if you can.

On a cloudy day, stay out longer. You’re still getting sunlight through the cloud, so it still counts.

Step 2: Get light through the day

Your clock wants a strong signal all day long.

Take your breaks outside. Eat lunch outside. Take calls on a walk.

If you work inside, get out at midday for a few minutes. It’s the brightest light you’ll get.

If you live somewhere dark, literally run outside the moment the sun comes out.

Even when it’s cloudy and overcast, get outside during the day. It’s a lot brighter than the middle of the night. That means sunlight is coming through the clouds, even if it’s partly blocked.

Full detail in Sun Exposure Benefits.

Step 3: Watch the sunset

Get outside for the sunset.

Watch the sun drop. Outside, with no glass in the way.

The changing light tells your brain the day is closing, and it starts winding you down for sleep.

The natural red and infrared light of the sunset is especially healing for your eyes, your brain and your body.

Step 4: Go dim after dark

Once the sun is down, the house goes dim.

Here is what I do:

• Beeswax candles and fire. The best light there is after dark.
• Salt lamps. A soft, warm glow.
• One dim lamp, low to the ground. Never overhead lights.
• Warm bulbs. I use Ra Optics bulbs with a candle setting at night. Their daylight setting only goes on in the morning, and only if I’m working inside.

My setup is on my Top Picks page.

Bonus: beeswax candlelight at dinner creates a better mood for everyone.

Step 5: Blue light blockers for what you can’t control

You can’t always control the light.

Offices. The gym. Airports. The odd night on a screen.

That’s where blue light blocking glasses come in. I wear my Ra Optics glasses at night and whenever I’m stuck under artificial light.

What I’ve noticed:

• I fall asleep easier.
• Less eye strain.
• I feel calmer at night.
• Less jet lag when I travel.

Step 6: Anchor your whole day to the sun

Rise early. Eat early. Train early.

Wake at the same time every day, weekends included.

Set an alarm once to lock in your wake time. Live this way for a while and you won’t need it. The sun and your body do the job.

Eat your meals in daylight.

The hard reset

If your sleep window is completely out of whack, use a hard reset.

Set a really early alarm for the time you want to be getting up. Get up when it goes off, even if you only slept a few hours.

Stay up the whole day, tired. Get as much light as you can. Then go to bed between nine and ten.

Repeat it.

It’s stressful being tired for a couple of days. Getting back into a good circadian rhythm is worth it.

The more your day follows the sun, the faster your clock locks in.

Step 7: Protect the night

No screens late at night. The hours between midnight and 4am are the worst time to be lit up by one.

Be in bed not long after dark. I’m down between nine and ten.

Full routine in How to Sleep Better Naturally.

How long does it take to reset your circadian rhythm?

Do every step, every day, for a week.

Then judge it by how you feel.

Watch for these:

• You get sleepy earlier in the evening.
• You wake up before your alarm.
• You feel awake without coffee.
• Your energy holds through the afternoon.

The longer you live this way, the more locked in it gets.

Resetting after travel and jet lag

Jet lag is a light problem first.

When you land, get outside at the local sunrise. Get as much daylight as you can on day one.

Keep the evening dim and wear your blue blockers on the plane and in the hotel at night.

Go to bed at the local bedtime, even if you feel wired.

Eat well when you fly

Jet lag is also a nutrient problem. Travel food is poor, and you land hungry and depleted.

Prepare yourself. When I fly, I take:

• Oranges
• Raw cheese
• Coconut water, if you can get it
• Shilajit or minerals. I use Aurum Ionic Liquid Magnesium.
• Raw eggs
• Raw meat, packed in a glass container

Get proper nutrients in while you travel. It goes a long way to getting rid of that hungry, low-nutrient jet lag feeling.

The bigger picture

So many of the problems men deal with today come from living separate from nature.

We were built to wake with the sun, live under it all day and sleep when it goes down.

You don’t need to know all the science.

When in doubt, go back to the more natural way.

Get outside.

Live by the sun, and your body runs the way it was built to.

Once your light is right, your energy starts to come back. The next step is learning to keep it. That’s what I teach in Retention Mastery.

Get Retention Mastery

If you want me to rebuild your whole day with you, apply for The Apollo Method.

FAQ

Can you reset your circadian rhythm in one day?

You can make a big shift in one day with morning sun, a sunset and a dark evening. Locking it in takes consistency. Give it a full week of doing every step.

Does sunlight through a window count?

No. Glass changes the light, and your skin can’t make the hormones it produces in sunlight through it. Get outside, even on a cloudy day.

What is the best light to use at night?

Beeswax candles and firelight. After that, a warm, dim lamp low to the ground. Avoid overhead lights and bright screens.

Do blue light glasses work?

They work for me. I fall asleep easier, my eyes feel better and I handle jet lag better. Wear them from sunset and any time you’re under artificial light.

How do I fix a totally messed-up sleep schedule?

Use the hard reset. Set a really early alarm, get up when it goes off and stay up all day getting as much light as you can. Go to bed between nine and ten. Repeat it for a few days.

How do I beat jet lag?

Get outside at the local sunrise, keep the evening dim and go to bed at the local bedtime. Eat well on the way. Take oranges, raw cheese, coconut water, minerals, raw eggs and raw meat in a glass container.

Is it bad to look at my phone first thing in the morning?

Get your light first. Go outside before you pick up your phone. Your first light of the day should come from the sun.

Stay Golden, Sol