How to adjust your sleep schedule. Adjusting Your Sleep Schedule: 7 Expert Tips for a Smooth Transition Back to Office Life

11.03.198006.12.2021 by alexxlab

How can you adjust your sleep schedule for returning to the office. What are effective strategies for resetting your body clock. Why is consistent sleep timing crucial for health and productivity. How do lifestyle factors impact sleep quality. What relaxation techniques promote better sleep.

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The Importance of Gradual Sleep Schedule Adjustments

As many workers prepare to return to office-based work after prolonged periods of remote work, adjusting sleep schedules poses a significant challenge. Dr. Bhanuprakash Kolla, a sleep medicine specialist at Mayo Clinic, notes that the absence of commuting has allowed people to sleep later, making the transition back to earlier wake times potentially difficult.

For those with flexible work arrangements, Dr. Kenneth Wright, a sleep expert from the University of Colorado Boulder, suggests negotiating a later start time if possible. However, if this isn’t an option, a gradual adjustment approach is recommended.

The 15-Minute Rule

Rebecca Robbins, a sleep researcher at Harvard Medical School, advises implementing a 15-minute rule: incrementally adjust your bedtime and wake-up time by 15 minutes each day until you reach your target schedule. This gradual shift allows your body to adapt without causing significant disruption.

Start adjustments a few weeks before your return-to-office date
Move bedtime 15 minutes earlier each night
Set your alarm 15 minutes earlier each morning
Be patient – sleep schedule changes take time

Establishing Consistent Sleep and Wake Times

One of the most crucial aspects of adjusting your sleep schedule is maintaining consistency. Dr. Raj Dasgupta, a sleep specialist at USC, emphasizes the importance of fixed sleep and wake times, even on weekends or work-from-home days.

Irregular sleep patterns have been linked to various health issues, including cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes, dementia, mood disorders, and immune dysfunction. To combat these risks and establish a healthy routine:

Set a consistent bedtime and stick to it
Use an alarm and avoid the snooze button
Expose yourself to morning sunlight to reset your circadian rhythm
Take daytime breaks outdoors to reinforce your body clock

The Role of Light Exposure

Light exposure plays a crucial role in regulating our sleep-wake cycle. Dr. Wright recommends increasing light exposure in the morning and during the day while dimming lights and electronics in the evening. This natural light-dark cycle helps to reinforce your body’s internal clock.

Avoiding Sleep Disruptors: Key Habits to Break

Several common habits can significantly impact sleep quality. To optimize your sleep environment and routine, consider eliminating these sleep disruptors:

Avoid alcohol before bed, as it can disrupt sleep in the middle of the night
Refrain from watching TV or working in the bedroom
Keep electronic devices out of the bedroom
Avoid caffeine and nicotine after midafternoon
Limit spicy foods that may cause digestive discomfort

Creating an ideal sleep environment is equally important. Ensure your bedroom is cool (between 60-67Â°F), quiet, and dark. Invest in comfortable bedding and pillows to promote restful sleep.

The Power of a Pre-Sleep Relaxation Routine

Establishing a relaxing pre-sleep routine can significantly improve your ability to fall asleep quickly and enjoy better quality rest. Dr. Dasgupta recommends setting aside an hour before bedtime for winding down.

Effective Relaxation Techniques

Reading a book
Gentle stretching or yoga
Meditation or mindfulness exercises
Puzzles or low-key family activities
Warm baths
Progressive muscle relaxation

These activities promote relaxation and signal to your body that it’s time to prepare for sleep. Consistency in your wind-down routine can help train your brain to associate these activities with sleep, making it easier to drift off when bedtime arrives.

The Impact of Napping on Nighttime Sleep

While naps may have become a common indulgence during remote work, they can interfere with establishing a consistent sleep schedule. As you transition back to office life, it’s important to reconsider your napping habits.

Why Eliminate Daytime Naps?

Daytime napping, especially later in the day, can make it harder to fall asleep at night. This can lead to a cycle of poor nighttime sleep and increased daytime fatigue. To break this cycle and improve your overall sleep quality:

Avoid naps altogether if possible
If you must nap, limit it to 20-30 minutes
Schedule naps earlier in the day, preferably before 3 PM
Use naps strategically to combat extreme fatigue, not as a daily habit

The Role of Exercise in Sleep Regulation

Regular exercise can play a significant role in improving sleep quality and helping to regulate your sleep-wake cycle. However, timing is crucial when it comes to exercise and sleep.

Optimal Exercise Timing for Better Sleep

While exercise generally promotes better sleep, vigorous workouts too close to bedtime can have the opposite effect. To harness the sleep-promoting benefits of exercise without disrupting your night’s rest:

Aim to complete moderate to vigorous exercise at least 3 hours before bedtime
Consider morning or early afternoon workouts to boost energy and alertness during the day
Incorporate gentle stretching or yoga into your evening routine for relaxation
Maintain a consistent exercise schedule to reinforce your body’s natural rhythms

Regular physical activity not only improves sleep quality but also helps manage stress, anxiety, and depression – all of which can interfere with healthy sleep patterns.

Nutrition and Hydration: Their Impact on Sleep Quality

What you eat and drink throughout the day can significantly affect your sleep quality. Making mindful choices about your diet and hydration can support better sleep as you adjust to your new schedule.

Dietary Considerations for Better Sleep

Avoid large meals close to bedtime
Choose sleep-promoting foods like cherries, bananas, or warm milk
Limit caffeine intake, especially in the afternoon and evening
Be cautious with spicy or acidic foods that may cause discomfort

Hydration and Sleep

Proper hydration is essential for good sleep, but timing is important. To avoid disrupting your sleep with nighttime bathroom trips:

Stay well-hydrated throughout the day
Reduce fluid intake in the hours leading up to bedtime
Avoid alcohol before bed, as it can lead to dehydration and poor sleep quality

Managing Stress and Anxiety for Better Sleep

The transition back to office work can be a source of stress and anxiety, which in turn can negatively impact sleep. Implementing stress management techniques can help ease this transition and improve sleep quality.

Effective Stress Management Strategies

Practice mindfulness meditation
Keep a worry journal to process concerns before bedtime
Engage in deep breathing exercises
Try cognitive behavioral therapy techniques for insomnia (CBT-I)
Consider talking to a therapist or counselor if stress persists

By addressing stress and anxiety proactively, you can create a more conducive mental state for restful sleep, making the adjustment to your new schedule smoother.

Leveraging Technology for Sleep Improvement

While excessive screen time can interfere with sleep, certain technologies can actually aid in improving sleep quality and helping you adjust to a new sleep schedule.

Helpful Sleep Tech Tools

Sleep tracking apps to monitor your sleep patterns
White noise machines or apps to mask disruptive sounds
Smart lighting systems that mimic natural light patterns
Meditation and relaxation apps for pre-sleep wind-down
Alarm apps that wake you during lighter sleep stages

When using these tools, it’s important to balance their benefits with the potential drawbacks of screen exposure. Consider using blue light filters on devices and limiting overall screen time in the evening.

The Importance of Patience and Persistence

Adjusting your sleep schedule is not an overnight process. It requires patience, consistency, and a willingness to persist even when progress seems slow. Remember that your body’s internal clock has been operating on a different schedule for an extended period, and it will take time to reset.

Tips for Staying Motivated

Set realistic expectations for your sleep adjustment timeline
Track your progress to visualize improvements over time
Celebrate small victories in your sleep routine
Be kind to yourself on days when you struggle
Remember the long-term benefits of a healthy sleep schedule

Consistency is key in establishing new sleep patterns. Even if you have setbacks, continue to follow your new schedule as closely as possible. Over time, your body will adapt, and your new sleep routine will become second nature.

When to Seek Professional Help

While many people can successfully adjust their sleep schedules on their own, some may require professional assistance. If you’ve consistently followed sleep hygiene recommendations and still struggle with sleep issues, it may be time to consult a sleep specialist.

Signs You May Need Professional Help

Persistent difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep
Chronic daytime fatigue despite adequate sleep opportunity
Loud snoring or gasping during sleep (potential signs of sleep apnea)
Persistent mood changes or irritability related to sleep issues
Inability to function well at work or in daily activities due to sleep problems

A sleep specialist can provide a comprehensive evaluation, identify any underlying sleep disorders, and offer tailored treatment options to help you achieve restful, restorative sleep.

Maintaining Your New Sleep Schedule Long-Term

Once you’ve successfully adjusted your sleep schedule, the challenge becomes maintaining it over the long term. This is especially important as you settle into your new work routine and face various life stressors that could potentially disrupt your sleep patterns.

Strategies for Long-Term Sleep Consistency

Continue to prioritize sleep as a crucial aspect of your health
Regularly reassess your sleep habits and make adjustments as needed
Be mindful of how life changes (e.g., new responsibilities, travel) impact your sleep
Develop contingency plans for occasional sleep disruptions
Educate family members or roommates about the importance of your sleep schedule

Remember that maintaining good sleep habits is an ongoing process. By consistently applying the principles of good sleep hygiene and remaining attentive to your body’s needs, you can enjoy the benefits of quality sleep for years to come.

The Broader Impact of Healthy Sleep Habits

As you work to adjust and maintain your new sleep schedule, it’s worth considering the wider impact that healthy sleep habits can have on your life. Quality sleep doesn’t just affect your ability to wake up for work; it influences nearly every aspect of your physical and mental well-being.

Benefits of Consistent, Quality Sleep

Improved cognitive function and decision-making abilities
Enhanced emotional regulation and stress management
Stronger immune system function
Better weight management and metabolic health
Reduced risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease
Improved physical performance and recovery
Enhanced creativity and problem-solving skills

By prioritizing your sleep health, you’re not just preparing for a return to the office; you’re investing in your overall quality of life. The habits and routines you establish now can set the foundation for improved health, productivity, and well-being in all areas of your life.

Adapting Your Sleep Schedule to Shifting Work Patterns

As the nature of work continues to evolve, many individuals find themselves navigating hybrid work models or flexible schedules. This variability can present unique challenges to maintaining a consistent sleep schedule. However, with some strategic planning, it’s possible to adapt your sleep routine to accommodate these changing work patterns.

Tips for Managing Sleep with Variable Work Schedules

Establish a core sleep schedule that works for both office and remote days
Use light exposure strategically to reinforce your desired sleep-wake cycle
Create consistent pre-sleep and wake-up routines regardless of work location
Plan your work tasks to align with your natural energy levels throughout the day
Use transition activities to separate work time from personal time, especially when working from home

By developing a flexible yet structured approach to your sleep schedule, you can maintain good sleep habits even as your work environment changes. This adaptability will serve you well not only in the current transition but also in future shifts in your professional life.

5 ways to adjust your sleep schedule to go back to the office

“Without the commute, people have been able to sleep in, and when that changes they will take some time to adjust back to the new normal,” said Dr. Bhanuprakash Kolla, a sleep medicine specialist in the Center for Sleep Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

Night owls may find it especially hard to return to an early morning awakening, so “If work schedules are flexible, then develop a plan for a later work start time,” said sleep specialist Kenneth Wright, a professor of integrative psychology at the University of Colorado Boulder.

If that’s not possible, a few weeks before your return to work start date, roll back your bedtime by 15 minute intervals and set the wake-up alarm for 15 minutes earlier each day until you reach your goal, said Rebecca Robbins, an associate scientist at Brigham & Women’s Hospital who studies sleep.

“Fifteen minute increments is recommend because that’s enough to move in the direction of a new time zone, a new work schedule or what have you without being too disruptive,” said Robbins, who is an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School.

“Unfortunately we can’t move our sleep schedules in a large way from one day to the next and hope to be just fine,” she added. “It does take time, and so be patient.”

Here are five additional tips to more easily transition your sleep schedule.

1. Establish a consistent time to go to sleep and wake

Having set times to go to sleep and wake up is essential to getting your sleep back on track, said sleep specialist Dr. Raj Dasgupta, an assistant professor of clinical medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California.It’s important to go to bed and rise at the same time every day, even on weekends or any days you might still work from home, experts told CNN. Having an irregular sleep schedule is associated with major health problems, including cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes, dementia, mood disorders and immune dysfunction, according to studies.

“Set your alarm in the morning, and don’t hit that snooze button,” Dasgupta advised. “Try your best to get out of bed when your alarm goes off and try to get outside, especially if the weather is good and there is a lot of sunshine in the morning. This will allow suppression of melatonin and reset that circadian rhythm.”

Turning up the lights in the house in the morning and taking work breaks with a walk outside during the day will also help reset your body clock, Wright said.

To get your body ready for bed, “equally important is to dim the lights and electronics in the home at night,” Wright said.

2. Avoid sleep killers

There are lots of bad habits that can interfere with quality sleep. Drinking beer, wine or liquor before bed is a guaranteed buzzkill for good sleep, because it metabolizes in the middle of the night and will wake you up.Another pattern to avoid is using the bedroom to watch television or work. You want to train your brain to expect sleep when you enter your bedroom, so the bed is only for sleeping and sex, Dasgupta said.

“This means don’t bring your laptop into bed, and put that cell phone away,” he said. “No more ‘working from bed.’ If you can’t sleep once you’re in bed, the general rule of thumb is to not spend more than 20 minutes tossing and turning.

“Instead, get out of bed and do something relaxing in very low light, and then head back to bed only when you are ready to fall asleep,” he added.

Avoid stimulants such as nicotine, coffee, black or green tea, and sodas after midafternoon, especially if you have insomnia, experts said. Spicy foods may also disrupt your tummy — and therefore your sleep.

Make sure your bed and pillows are comfortable, and the room is cool: Between 60 and 67 degrees Fahrenheit is best.

3.Start preparing for bed an hour before you want to sleep

Relaxation is another key to falling asleep easily. That’s why it’s important to close your laptop, put away your smartphone, shut off the TV and take some time to let go of the day’s stresses.

“In the evenings, have a wind-down routine for you and your family,” Dasgupta said. “It can involve things like reading, stretching, meditating or doing a puzzle with the family. Be sure to have a consistent time to turn down those lights and keep the bedroom cool, quiet and dark.”

Warm baths or stretching, or practicing yoga before bed are also great options, he added.

“These exercises can promote feelings of relaxation and improve sleep quality. Alternatively, you can alleviate physical tension before bed using progressive muscle relaxation, meditation and other relaxation techniques,” he said.

4. No more random napping

If you’ve been enjoying daylight naps during pandemic, it’s time to put that habit aside. Now that you are trying to have a consistent bedtime, experts say you should nap only if you are sleep deprived.

“If you must nap, make it a ‘power nap’ which is a short and sweet nap that lasts 15 to 20 minutes and occurs between the hours of noon and 2 p.m. when most of us get that feeling of fatigue and sleepiness,” Dasgupta said.

And if you are suffering from coronasomnia, “then napping is definitely not the answer to your problems. It can actually make your insomnia worse by reducing the drive to sleep at night,” he added.

5. Exercise

For many, it wasn’t easy to prioritize exercise during the pandemic — just juggling all the stress while figuring out how to work or do school from home was exhausting. Now that things are getting better, Dasgupta said, it’s time to put exercise on your daily schedule.

“Exercising improves sleep by reducing sleep onset, meaning it takes less time to fall asleep and decreases the amount of time you are lying in bed awake during the night,” he said.

If you’ve suffered from coronasomnia (or had insomnia before the pandemic), studies have shown that moderate physical exertion “enables individuals with insomnia to fall asleep faster, sleep longer, and enjoy better sleep quality than they did before exercising,” he added.

When should you exercise? When it’s convenient for you, experts say. Many people swear by morning exercise as a way to jump-start the brain and fill the body with feel-good endorphins for the day.

“Traditional sleep hygiene dictates that intensive exercise during the three-hour period leading up to sleep can negatively impact sleep … because it can increase your heart rate, body temperature, and adrenaline levels,” Dasgupta said.

But some studies have found no issue with later exercise, he added, “as long as you avoid vigorous activity for at least one to two hours before bedtime.”

Sleep tips: 6 steps to better sleep

You’re not doomed to toss and turn every night. Consider simple tips for better sleep, from setting a sleep schedule to including physical activity in your daily routine.

By Mayo Clinic Staff

Think about all the factors that can interfere with a good night’s sleep — from work stress and family responsibilities to unexpected challenges, such as illnesses. It’s no wonder that quality sleep is sometimes elusive.

While you might not be able to control the factors that interfere with your sleep, you can adopt habits that encourage better sleep. Start with these simple tips.

1. Stick to a sleep schedule

Set aside no more than eight hours for sleep. The recommended amount of sleep for a healthy adult is at least seven hours. Most people don’t need more than eight hours in bed to achieve this goal.

Go to bed and get up at the same time every day. Try to limit the difference in your sleep schedule on weeknights and weekends to no more than one hour. Being consistent reinforces your body’s sleep-wake cycle.

If you don’t fall asleep within about 20 minutes, leave your bedroom and do something relaxing. Read or listen to soothing music. Go back to bed when you’re tired. Repeat as needed.

2. Pay attention to what you eat and drink

Don’t go to bed hungry or stuffed. In particular, avoid heavy or large meals within a couple of hours of bedtime. Your discomfort might keep you up.

Nicotine, caffeine and alcohol deserve caution, too. The stimulating effects of nicotine and caffeine take hours to wear off and can wreak havoc on quality sleep. And even though alcohol might make you feel sleepy, it can disrupt sleep later in the night.

3. Create a restful environment

Create a room that’s ideal for sleeping. Often, this means cool, dark and quiet. Exposure to light might make it more challenging to fall asleep. Avoid prolonged use of light-emitting screens just before bedtime. Consider using room-darkening shades, earplugs, a fan or other devices to create an environment that suits your needs.

Doing calming activities before bedtime, such as taking a bath or using relaxation techniques, might promote better sleep.

4. Limit daytime naps

Long daytime naps can interfere with nighttime sleep. If you choose to nap, limit yourself to up to 30 minutes and avoid doing so late in the day.

If you work nights, however, you might need to nap late in the day before work to help make up your sleep debt.

5. Include physical activity in your daily routine

Regular physical activity can promote better sleep. Avoid being active too close to bedtime, however.

Spending time outside every day might be helpful, too.

6. Manage worries

Try to resolve your worries or concerns before bedtime. Jot down what’s on your mind and then set it aside for tomorrow.

Stress management might help. Start with the basics, such as getting organized, setting priorities and delegating tasks. Meditation also can ease anxiety.

Know when to contact your doctor

Nearly everyone has an occasional sleepless night — but if you often have trouble sleeping, contact your doctor. Identifying and treating any underlying causes can help you get the better sleep you deserve.

Mayo Clinic Minute: Sleep Spoiler – Tips for a Good Night’s Rest

Show transcript for video Mayo Clinic Minute: Sleep Spoiler – Tips for a Good Night’s Rest

Virend Somers, M. D., Ph.D.: When you don’t sleep well, bad things happen.

Vivien Williams: Dr. Virend Somers is a cardiologist who studies sleep.

Dr. Somers: Sleep is very much a multidisciplinary specialty for good reason because sleep affects all the organs of the body.

Vivien Williams: Poor sleep may increase your risk of conditions such as heart disease, obesity, depression, dementia. And it even affects how you look. Dr. Somers offers the following tips: Avoid alcohol and big meals before bed; don’t exercise right before bed; and turn off all screens, including your smartphone, an hour before bed.

Dr. Somers: We’ve got bright lights all over the place, and then we switch the lights off, we lie in bed and expect to sleep. The bedroom, the bed is for sex and sleep. It’s not for spreadsheets, it’s not for watching TV.

Vivien Williams: He also suggests keeping your bedroom as dark and quiet as possible. Healthy sleep for a healthy life. For the Mayo Clinic News Network, I’m Vivien Williams.

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April 17, 2020

Show references

Bonnet MH, et al. Treatment of insomnia in adults. http://www.uptodate.com/home. Accessed April 7, 2017.
Sleep deprivation and deficiency. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/sdd. Accessed April 7, 2017.
Sleep hygiene tips. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/sleep/about_sleep/sleep_hygiene.html. Accessed April 7, 2017.
Jackson EJ, et al. Safety during night shifts: A cross-sectional survey of junior doctors’ preparation and practice. BMJ Open. 2013;3:1.
Anxiety disorders. National Institute of Mental Health. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/anxiety-disorders/index.shtml. Accessed April 10, 2017.
Olson EJ (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. April 10, 2017.

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Sleep and Your Body Clock

Topic Overview

What is the body clock?

The body’s “biological clock,” or 24-hour cycle (circadian rhythm), can be affected by light or darkness, which can make the body think it is time to sleep or wake up. The 24-hour body clock controls functions such as:

Sleeping and waking.
Body temperature.
The body’s immune system.
Other body functions, such as when you feel hungry.

How are body clock problems and sleep problems connected?

Body clock sleep problems have been linked to a hormone called melatonin, which helps your body fall and stay asleep. Light and dark affect how the body makes melatonin. Most melatonin is made at night. During the day, light tells your body to make less melatonin. If you work at night in artificial light, your body may be making less melatonin than it needs.

Some people—such as those who can’t sleep until very late and those who go to bed very early—have circadian (say “ser-KAY-dee-un”) rhythms that are different from those of most people. Other people with sleep problems may have regular circadian rhythms but have to adjust them to new situations, such as working a night shift.

What sleep problems are related to problems with your body clock?

Things that may affect melatonin production and can cause sleep problems include:

Jet lag. Crossing time zones disrupts your body clock. You have sleep problems because your body clock has not adjusted to the new time zone. Your body thinks that you’re still in your old time zone. For example, if you fly from Chicago to Rome, you cross seven time zones. This means that Rome is 7 hours ahead of Chicago. When you land in Rome at 6:00 in the morning, your body thinks it’s still in Chicago at 11:00 the previous night. Your body wants to sleep, but in Rome the day is just starting.
Changing your sleep schedule. When you work at night and sleep during the day, your body’s internal clock needs to reset to let you sleep during the day. Sometimes that’s hard to do. People who work the night shift or rotate shifts may have trouble sleeping during the day and may feel tired at night when they need to be alert for work.
Your sleep environment. Too much light or noise can make your body feel like it is not time to sleep.
Illness. Certain illnesses and health problems can affect sleep patterns. These include dementia, a head injury, recovering from a coma, and severe depression. Some medicines that affect the central nervous system may also affect sleep patterns.
Aftereffects of drugs and alcohol. Some drugs cause sleep problems. And you may fall asleep with no problems after drinking alcohol late in the evening, but drinking alcohol before bed can wake you up later in the night.

Other sleep problems related to the body clock include:

Having a hard time falling asleep until very late at night or very early in the morning and then feeling tired and needing to sleep during the day. People who have this problem may be called “night owls.” This is a common problem, and it usually starts in the early teen or young adult years. People who have a parent with this problem are more likely to have it themselves.
Falling asleep early—at 8 p.m. or earlier—and waking up early—between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. If you wake up early, you may be called an “early bird.” This problem is not as common as staying up late and waking up late. Experts are not sure what causes it.

How can you treat sleep problems related to your body clock?

How you treat a sleep problem related to your body clock depends on what is causing the problem. Here are some tips for the most common problems.

Jet lag

Taking melatonin supplements may help reset your body clock.

Suggestions about times and dosages vary among researchers who have studied melatonin. Doctors recommend that you:

Take melatonin after dark on the day you travel and after dark for a few days after you arrive at your destination.
Take melatonin in the evening for a few days before you fly if you will be flying east.

The safety and effectiveness of melatonin have not been thoroughly tested. Taking large doses of it may disrupt your sleep and make you very tired during the day. If you have epilepsy or are taking warfarin (such as Coumadin), talk to your doctor before you use melatonin.

The sleeping pills eszopiclone (Lunesta) and zolpidem (Ambien) have been studied for jet lag. They may help you sleep despite jet lag if you take them before bedtime after you arrive at your destination. Side effects include headaches, dizziness, confusion, and feeling sick to your stomach.

For more information on jet lag, see:

Shift work

If you work the night shift or rotate shifts, you can help yourself get good sleep by keeping your bedroom dark and quiet and by taking good care of yourself overall. In some cases, prescription medicine or over-the-counter supplements may help. Here are some tips on sleeping well when you do this type of shift work:

Make sure that the room where you sleep is dark. Use blackout drapes, or wear a sleep eye mask.
Wear earplugs to block sounds.
Don’t have alcohol or caffeine in the hours leading up to bedtime.
Take a nap during a work break if you can.
Ask your doctor if you should try a dietary supplement or medicine. Doctors usually advise people to use a supplement or medicine only for a short time.

For more information, see the topic Shift Work Sleep Disorder.

Night owl

Some people, no matter what they do, have trouble falling asleep at night and being up early during the day. This may or may not cause problems for them. It depends on their lifestyle and work or school schedule. If you are one of those night owls, there are things you can try so that you fall asleep earlier and sleep through the night.

Getting up at the same time every day no matter what time you go to sleep. On the weekends (or on days when you don’t have to get up), don’t let yourself sleep more than 1 hour longer than you do when you have to get up for work or school. If that doesn’t work, you can try the treatments listed below.
Light therapy. In this case, light therapy means exposing yourself to bright light as soon as you wake up. You can use sunlight, a bright (10,000 lux) light, or a full-spectrum light box for 30 to 45 minutes each day.
Melatonin
. Ask your doctor about taking melatonin supplements in the evening to help you get to sleep.
Chronotherapy. For night owls, this method involves creating a 27-hour day. During each sleep-wake cycle, you go to sleep 3 hours later until the time to go to sleep has cycled back around to the time you actually want to go to sleep. After you complete the cycle once, then you would keep going to bed at that desired time. This method can be hard to do because of the way it can disrupt your daily schedule and because you have to keep to a rigid schedule. Here is a sample schedule:
- Day 1: If you normally go to bed at midnight, you would wait until 3 a. m. to go to sleep.
- Day 2 and beyond: Go to sleep at 6 a.m., and then keep delaying sleep 3 hours each day until you are going to bed at the time you desire. This will probably take 5 to 7 days.

Early bird

People who fall asleep very early and wake up before dawn may try the following to try to stay up later at night and sleep later in the morning.

Light therapy. In this case, light therapy means exposing yourself to bright light in the evening. Use a bright (10,000 lux) light box for 30 to 45 minutes each day.
Chronotherapy. For early birds, this method involves creating a 21-hour day. During each sleep-wake cycle, you go to bed 3 hours earlier until the time to go to sleep has cycled back around to the time you actually want to go to sleep. This method can be hard to do because of the way it can disrupt your daily schedule and because you have to keep to a rigid schedule. Here is a sample schedule:
- Day 1: If you normally go to bed at 8 p. m., you would go to bed at 5 p.m.
- Day 2 and beyond: Go to bed at 2 p.m., and then keep going to sleep 3 hours earlier each day until you are going to bed at the time you desire. This will probably take about a week. Then you would keep going to bed at that desired time.

Illness

After you get treatment for the illness or health problem that is causing your sleep problem, you will need to practice good sleep habits. This includes getting regular exercise, going to bed at the same time each day, and using the bed only for sleep and sex.

For more tips on improving sleep habits, see:

4 secrets to adjusting your toddler’s sleep cycle

Most parents, at one time or another, have had a difficult time getting their toddler to go to bed. For some it’s a nightly struggle.

According to some research, part of the problem might be that bedtime is not in sync with your child’s natural rhythm cycle, also known as the circadian rhythm or internal body clock.

“Circadian rhythms allow us to stay awake during the day and to sleep at night,” says William David Brown, Ph.D., Psychologist and Sleep Disorders Expert at Children’s Health℠. “There’s also a ‘forbidden zone,’ which is a time when sleep is almost impossible. If you’re putting your toddler to bed during that forbidden zone, she won’t be able to sleep.”

Related podcast

Learn more about how to get your child to sleep by listening to the Children’s Health Checkup podcast.

Tips to adjust your toddler’s sleep cycle

1. Use morning light
Bright light in the morning will help your toddler to wake earlier and go to bed earlier. Take your toddler outside in the mornings or buy a light box and set it to turn on about 30 minutes before you want your child to wake up.

2. Avoid electronics before bed
Blue light from electronics can keep children from sleeping, so it’s best to turn off all televisions, computers or other electronic devices at least 90 minutes before bedtime. Also, use night lights or lamps instead of overhead lights.

3. Adjust bedtime incrementally
If you’re putting your toddler to sleep at seven and he’s not going to sleep until nine, you’re going to have problems. Start by delaying your child’s bedtime to match his rhythm, then move it up 15 minutes at a time until you reach the desired bedtime.

4. Keep your child on a regular sleep schedule
Sometimes parents let their toddler stay up late on weekends or during other periods of time off, in the hope that the child will sleep late in the morning. However, this isn’t a good idea because your child’s circadian rhythm may adjust to the later hours creating problems when you go back to their regular schedule.

Learn more

The highly experienced sleep specialists at Children’s Health can help diagnose and treat children with all sleep disorders from birth to early adulthood. Learn more about our programs.

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5 Tips for Adjusting to a New Sleep Schedule

As we rest, we recover from all the wear and tear we rack up throughout the day, most of which work occurs below the surface. At night, your cells turnover, your organs take a break, stress hormones dissipate, and you wake up feeling restored to your optimal being.

Most of us go to sleep and wake up around the same time every day and our bodies get comfortable in a groove. But sometimes in life, we’re forced to reset our sleep schedule and adjust our waking and sleeping hours. Maybe you got a new job, maybe you have to go back to school, or maybe you need to learn how to change a sleep cycle for the night shift. It may also be the case that you don’t have to, but want to learn how to fix a sleep schedule because you’ve heard the rumored benefits of keeping a regular bedtime routine.

We’ll dive into all those benefits, but first, we’re going to share some tips on how you can adjust your sleep schedule (without feeling like a zombie). Forcing yourself to wake up early or stay up later might sound like an impossible challenge at present, but you might just be surprised how quickly your body attunes itself to your new routine — and by how awesome you feel in return.

Resetting Your Sleep Schedule: Top Tips

There are all sorts of sleepers: early birds and night owls, those who can’t get enough shuteye and those who will stubbornly fight their body until it forcefully dozes off. Some people can fall asleep at the drop of a hat while others chase the pillow, tossing and turning all night. No matter what your unique profile is, learning how to fix a sleep schedule usually proves to be pretty challenging.

But these tips can help. When you need to reset your sleep cycle and teach your body a new time to power down, use these strategies to make the transition much easier:

Make Gradual Adjustments

You’re not going to become sleeping beauty overnight, nor is it encouraged to pull an all-nighter in order to reset your sleep schedule the following day. If you want to build a sustainable sleep pattern, get there by making slight adjustments to your standard habits.

For example, if you normally wind down around 11:00 PM, but a new job demands that you start waking up at 6:00 AM, you should make 10:00 PM your target bedtime in order to achieve the prescribed eight hours. Slowly start laying down 15 minutes earlier every night until you get closer to your golden goodnight time. Keep in mind that this also means you should start your nighttime routine a little earlier every evening as well.

Make Friends with Darkness

Let’s face it, no one likes to be alone in the dark. From an evolutionary standpoint, darkness could pose a serious danger, so it makes sense that we still actively try to avoid this situation — even though we’re completely safe in the 21st-century homes. It’s actually modern society’s technological advancements that now threaten our health by disturbing our sleep.

Televisions, laptops, computers, tablets, smartphones… digital screens are practically unavoidable in today’s day and age. But they emanate blue light that’s not only bad for our vision, but it makes our brain think that it’s still daytime. As you establish a nighttime routine, it’s wise to avoid blue light for at least two hours before bed.

Turn off the TV. Plug your phone into a charger located in the kitchen or somewhere away from your bed so you can’t scroll to infinity. Disconnect and tune back into yourself. Everyone finds a nightly ritual that works for them; maybe you like to read, journal, meditate or look at the stars. Doing this consistently helps signal “sleep time” to your brain and will make dozing off much easier.

Skip the Snooze

We can all be guilty of hitting that treasured snooze button in favor of just five more minutes. Some of us even set our alarm clocks early to accommodate one, two, or three snoozes because we desperately dread getting out of bed. Here’s the thing: falling back into half-awake slumber actually does you more harm than good, sending your brain mixed signals and tiptoeing at the start of a new REM cycle.

When that happens, you end up feeling groggier than you would have otherwise. It may be painful, but force yourself to wake up at the sound of the first alarm. If you give yourself a few minutes to adjust to your daytime mode, you might find that you’re not as tired as you initially felt. And the good news is, with a little bit of practice and consistency, soon you’ll be popping out of bed without the help of an electronic device.

Embrace the Morning Light

On the contrary, when it’s time to wake up, flood your brain with light signals to inhibit the release of melatonin, otherwise known as the sleep hormone. Melatonin is regulated by light; as dusk falls, the hormone level starts to spike, signaling symptoms of tiredness that eventually get you to hit the sheets. That’s why the phone in your hand in bed at night is not only a sleep distraction, its light is a sleep deterrent.

It might be a bright world out there, but allowing the morning sun to flood through your windows is a great way to flip the switch and jumpstart your system. Energy will come more naturally than if you were to wake up slowly, shielded by the darkness of blackout curtains.

Set Yourself up for Success

When you’re trying to fix your sleep schedule and force yourself to go to bed at an unnatural hour, every detail matters. You won’t want to lay down on a busted box spring that causes a stiff back, and when you do successfully slip into dreamland, there’s nothing worse than waking yourself up to a hot, sweaty mess.

That’s why it’s worth your while to invest in a copper mattress and bamboo sheets that will keep you cool, comfortable, and dry from hour one to hour eight. If sleep is a new priority, then nighttime comfort should be a close second.

Adjusting Your Sleep Schedule: How and Why

You do it all the time: stay up a little past bedtime to catch the end of your favorite show, indulge by sleeping in on the weekends, squeeze in a cat nap on days you’re exhausted. All of these are examples of micro-adjustments you might make to your sleep schedule on a regular basis.

The problem with that is that erratic sleeping patterns can have you feeling all out of sorts. You might not even notice this effect if inconsistent sleep has become a trademark of your lifestyle. You could be amazed by how much more you remember, how clearly you process information, and how creatively you think with a consistently full night of sleep beneath your belt.

Don’t just take our word for it. There are scientific studies that speak to the benefits of adjusting your sleep schedule to a regular routine, citing that irregular sleep patterns correlate to daytime drowsiness and fatigue.

Why Sleep Schedules Matter

As it turns out, regular bedtimes aren’t just for kids. Adults can benefit by fixing their sleep schedule because it helps with getting in touch with your circadian rhythm, or your body’s internal clock. It’s this clock that tells your body when it’s time to rest and when it’s time to wake up. The circadian rhythm is impacted by melatonin, which is the sleepy-time hormone your brain releases cued by light. When your body finds its natural rhythm, you can recognize when it’s time to call it a night, you fall asleep easily, and you wake up naturally feeling bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to take on the day at full cognitive functioning.

That being said, the benefits of a well-established sleep pattern don’t necessarily come easy, per se. Most of us feel like a million bucks after waking up from a great night’s rest, but the key is consistently getting the sleep you need, not just the occasional weekend hibernation.

Spoiler alert: You’re going to feel tired as you experience the side effects of changing your sleep schedule. But once you push past a week or so of staring at the ceiling and feeling under-rested, you’ll start to reap all the positive benefits of better sleep.

According to WebMD, a routine sleep schedule may help prevent heart disease and cut your odds of diabetes, in addition to all the other positives it adds to your day-to-day experience. Layla has all the best advice for a good night’s rest and tips on how to fix sleep schedules so you can reset your system and get back to speed.

Track your sleep on Apple Watch and use Sleep on iPhone

Create personalized sleep schedules to help meet your sleep goals and improve your overall health.

Set up Sleep

Getting enough sleep is important to your overall health. The Health app on iPhone can help you set a sleep goal, and track your progress over time in meeting that goal.

Open the Health app on your iPhone.
Tap Get Started under Set Up Sleep, then tap Next.
Follow the onscreen prompts to establish:
- Sleep Goals: Set the number of hours you’d like to spend asleep.
- Bedtime and Wake Up times: Set when you’d like to go to bed and wake up.
- Sleep Screen: To reduce distractions, iPhone can simplify your Lock Screen and turn on Sleep Focus at your scheduled bedtime. You can also give certain people or apps permission to notify you. In the Settings app on your iPhone, tap Focus > Sleep. Tap People or Apps under Allowed Notifications and select who or what can notify you while Sleep Focus is on.
- Wind Down Shortcuts: Add shortcuts that will help you take time to relax before bed, such as turning on a Home scene, listening to soothing playlists, or using your favorite meditation app.
- Track Sleep with Apple Watch: Wear your watch to bed to track your sleep. This option is available during setup if you’ve paired your Apple Watch with your iPhone beforehand. If you pair your Apple Watch after setup, you can still turn on Track Sleep with Apple Watch later.

Sleep is not available with Family Setup.

Adjust your sleep goal

You can adjust your sleep goal as needed on your iPhone or Apple Watch.

On your iPhone

Open the Health app, tap Browse at bottom of the screen, then tap Sleep. If you have Sleep saved to your Favorites list, you can access it from the Summary page in the Health app.
Tap Full Schedule & Options.
Tap Sleep Goal under Additional Details.
Adjust your Sleep Goal then tap the time you’ve selected to save your changes.

On your Apple Watch

Open the Sleep app and tap Full Schedule.
Tap Sleep Goal under Options.
Tap the Plus and Minus buttons to adjust your goal.
Tap Sleep Goal in the upper left to go back and save your changes.

Edit your sleep schedule on your iPhone

If you need to update your sleep schedule, you can make changes to your full schedule or for Next Wake Up Only. With Next Wake Up Only, the changes you make apply only to the following day. Changes made to your full schedule apply to all future days.

Update Next Wake Up Only

Open the Health app, tap Browse at bottom of the screen, then tap Sleep. If you have Sleep saved to your Favorites list, you can access it from the Summary page in the Health app.
Tap Edit under the sleep schedule in Next.
Drag the curved slider to set Bedtime and Wake Up times. The slider turns orange if the schedule does not meet your sleep goal.
Tap Wake Up Alarm to turn on the alarm and adjust your alarm sound, volume, and haptics.
Tap Done to save your changes.

You can also change your next Wake Up alarm from the Clock app.

Update your full schedule

Open the Health app and tap Sleep.
Tap a schedule in Full Schedule & Options.
Tap Edit under the schedule you would like to update.
Tap the Days Active and drag the curved slider to set Bedtime and Wake Up times. The slider turns orange if the schedule does not meet your sleep goal.
Tap Wake Up Alarm to turn on an alarm and adjust your alarm sound, volume, and haptics.
Tap Done to save your changes.

You can also turn off your sleep schedule as needed. In the Health app, tap Browse > Sleep > Full Schedule & Options. Then tap Sleep Schedule at the top of the screen to turn your schedule off or on.

Edit your sleep schedule on your Apple Watch

If you’re up before your scheduled Wake Up time, you can exit Sleep Focus. Turn the Digital Crown to unlock your Apple Watch. Then swipe up to open Control Center and tap the Sleep app icon.

Update Next Wake Up Only

Open the Sleep app.
Tap the schedule under Next.
Tap Wake Up or Bedtime.
Tap the hour or minute and turn the Digital Crown to adjust the time. Then tap the checkmark to save.
Tap Alarm to turn on an alarm and adjust the sound and haptics.
Tap Edit Schedule in the upper left to save your changes for the following day.

Update your full schedule

Open the Sleep app and tap Full Schedule.
Tap the schedule you want to edit.
Tap the days under Active On, then tap the days you want to set the sleep schedule for.
Tap Done to save your changes.
Tap Wake Up or Bedtime.
Tap the hour or minute and turn the Digital Crown to adjust the time. Then tap the checkmark to save.
Tap Alarm to turn on an alarm and adjust the sound and haptics of your alarm.
Tap Edit Schedule in the upper left to save your changes for the full schedule.

You can also turn off your full schedule as needed. In the Sleep app, tap Full Schedule, then tap Sleep Schedule to turn your sleep schedule off or on.

Manage your wind down shortcuts

On your iPhone, you can add shortcuts to apps to help you relax and get ready for bed.

Add a shortcut

Open the Health app and tap Sleep.
Tap a schedule in Full Schedule & Options.
Tap Wind Down Shortcuts.
Tap Add a Shortcut or Add Another Shortcut if you’ve previously added one.
Tap an app, then tap the Add button to add the shortcut. You can also tap Show Apps from the App Store to find and add new apps.

Remove a shortcut

Open the Health app and tap Sleep.
Tap a schedule in Full Schedule & Options.
Tap Wind Down Shortcuts.
Tap the Remove button .

View your sleep history

To view your sleep history, open the Health app on your iPhone, tap Browse at bottom of the screen, then tap Sleep. If you have Sleep favorited, you can access it from the Summary page in the Health app.

Based on your iPhone usage at night, Sleep on iPhone tracks and charts your Time In Bed. The bar graph by default is set to W for weekly. Tap M at the top of the chart to view your sleep history for the past month. Tap Show More Sleep Data to review your Sleep Duration details such as your Average Time in Bed and Average Time Asleep. You can tap each detail to see how it charts in the graph above.

View your Respiratory Rate

With Apple Watch Series 3 or later with watchOS 8, you can measure and track your Respiratory Rate.* With Track Sleep with Apple Watch turned on, when you wear your Apple Watch to bed, it will automatically measure and record the number of times you breathe in a minute.

To view your Respiratory Rate, open the Health app on your iPhone, then tap Browse at bottom of the screen. Tap Respiratory, then tap Respiratory Rate.

*Respiratory Rate is not available for people under 18 years old.

Getting more accurate results with your Apple Watch

If you paired your Apple Watch after completing Sleep setup, you can still turn on Track Sleep with Apple Watch. In the Watch app on your iPhone, tap the My Watch tab, then tap Sleep. Then tap Track Sleep with Apple Watch to turn on this setting. To get the most accurate results when wearing your watch to sleep:

Turn on Charging Reminders. On your iPhone, open the Watch app and tap the My Watch tab, then tap Sleep. Tap Charging Reminders to turn on a reminder on your Apple Watch to charge before your Wind Down time. If your watch battery dies, it won’t track your sleep data.
Make sure that you’re wearing your Apple Watch at a comfortable fit. If your watch is too loose, the accelerometer might register too much movement during your natural sleep.

Published Date: November 10, 2021

How to Fix Your Sleep Schedule

A good, consistent sleep schedule is one of the best ways to ensure that you’re getting enough restful and healthy sleep. But sometimes, it can be easy for your biological clock – and that sleep schedule– to go off the rails. Maybe you pick up an extra shift at work, pull an all-nighter for a big project, or take a trip to another time zone, which leaves you with jet lag. Whatever the reason, it’s important to reset your internal clock and get your sleep schedule back on track.

There are several different ways to help your body’s internal clock get back on track so you feel great when you wake up in the morning. Here’s how to fix your sleep schedule.

Follow your regular schedule
Avoid the nap
Eat early
Use light to your advantage
Keep it quiet
Cool off
Exercise
Relax
Get the right support

Our circadian rhythm is a 24-hour cycle that regulates how our bodies move between wakefulness and hours of sleep each day. If you have good sleep hygiene and habits, your sleep schedule can typically stay fairly consistent. But when it’s interrupted or changed in some way, sleeping issues can occur. In the short term, having an imbalanced internal clock and inconsistent sleep schedule can cause feelings of sluggishness in the morning. But over time, inconsistent sleep and prolonged sleep deprivation can cause clinical sleep disorders and other chronic health problems, such as obesity, diabetes, depression, bipolar disorder, and seasonal affective disorder.

When your sleep habits are interrupted, it’s important to reset your circadian rhythm as soon as you can. Let’s look at the various ways you can fix your sleep problems and get a good night’s rest again.

Good sleep habits are formed by sticking to a schedule. It’s best for your body if you’re falling asleep and waking up at roughly the same time each day. When your sleep routine is interrupted, it’s important to get back to your regular bedtime routine as quickly as you can. The brain and body seem to work better with a regular rhythm set by a schedule.

Life can be busy and unpredictable. But when it disrupts your normal sleep schedule, whether due to jet lag, work, vacation, etc., try to return to your regular bedtime routine as quickly as you can. Resist the urge to sleep late in the morning – try to go to bed and wake up as closely as you can to your normal schedule. Don’t even think about hitting the snooze button on your alarm clock or delaying your morning routine.

When your sleep schedule is interrupted, an afternoon nap is like a siren call – it’s tempting, seductive and not what you need. Taking an afternoon nap will likely just prevent you from feeling drowsy when it’s bedtime. Falling asleep will be more difficult, and you’ll wake up the next day feeling sleep-deprived. This, in turn, will make you want to take another afternoon nap, and so the sleep deprivation cycle continues. And long naps can be especially damaging to your deep sleep cycle.

If you just can’t resist the pull of an afternoon nap, keep it to 30 minutes or less. This prevents you from moving into the deepest sleep cycles during the day, which can further disrupt your internal clock.

It helps to eat a light, early meal. When you eat a large or heavy meal shortly before you go to bed, it can be difficult to fall asleep. It’s a good idea to enjoy your last meal of the day at least 2-3 hours before you plan to go to bed. Try to get into a routine of eating dinner around the same time every evening, and then going to bed at roughly the same time. If you’re hungry before bedtime, limit yourself to a light snack, ideally one that includes a combination of protein and carbohydrates, like an apple and a piece of whole wheat toast with peanut butter.

Be careful of what you drink before bed, too. Caffeine and alcohol can hamper your sleep rhythm, so it’s best to avoid them completely as bedtime approaches.

Light is a signal to your body and brain that it’s time to be awake. If you find yourself wanting to nod off during the day, it’s a good idea to expose yourself to natural light. Take a quick walk around the block or enjoy a few moments sitting in the sunshine – doing this can help signal to your brain that it’s time to be awake and alert. Your brain will stop producing melatonin, which is our natural sleep hormone.

When it’s time to be asleep, make sure your bed is in a nice, dark space. This tells your brain to crank up the melatonin production so you can fall right asleep. Turn off all the lights in your bedroom and use blackout curtains or a sleep mask to block ambient light. Not only can this help you fall asleep, but it can help you stay asleep and get a good night’s rest.

When it’s time to go to bed, a quiet environment can help you feel more drowsy. As well, loud noises can prevent you from falling asleep. Even as you’re dropping off to sleep, your brain continues to process noise. If you’re surrounded by loud, distracting noises – like banging doors or ringing phones, for example – they can hamper your ability to get a good night’s sleep. It helps to turn off the TV, leave your phone in another room, and make sure your bedroom is calm and quiet.

If you’re the type of person who finds it hard to fall asleep when a room is completely quiet, try adding some white noise – a fan, humidifier, air purifier, or white noise machine. You can also find white noise apps for your mobile device – that can be the exception for keeping your phone out of your room! Just make sure any disruptive sounds like text and email notifications are turned off. Most phones have a “Do Not Disturb” mode for bedtime.

As our bodies prepare to sleep, our body temperature begins to drop. A cool bedroom can help this process and keep you sleeping well throughout the night. You can use a fan during the hottest summer months to keep air circulating throughout your room. It also helps to invest in a cool mattress and breathable bed sheets that don’t trap body heat. Staying cool is key to getting a great night’s sleep.

Regular exercise is another great way to maintain a healthy sleep/wake cycle. A rigorous workout tires out your muscles, which can help you feel drowsier at bedtime. It also encourages the production of endorphins that can generate feelings of relaxation and well-being. Exercise also encourages your brain to produce more melatonin during your sleep cycle. Studies show that 30 minutes of exercise each day can significantly help you sleep better. And if you’re exercising outside, you get the added benefit of light exposure, which helps you feel more alert and awake during the day.

When we’re stressed or anxious, our bodies produce the stress hormone cortisol, which makes us feel wound up and on edge. This adrenaline makes it very difficult to fall asleep and stay asleep. Life can be stressful and it’s not always easy to relax.

To help relax your body and mind – relaxation techniques are often recommended. The goal is to essentially teach your body how to fall asleep. Methods include deep breathing exercises, meditation, stretching, Yoga, and even journaling before bed. Some sleepers report that journaling helps them clear their minds of all their worries for the coming day, which helps them then fall asleep faster and easier. A warm bath or shower can also help you relax.

Your head, neck, and shoulders need the right support from your mattress and pillow. If you’re sleeping on a bed or pillow that is sagging or not offering the right kind of pressure relief and support, you might be sleeping poorly because you can’t get comfortable. If you’re tossing and turning at night to find the right sleeping position, that can end up disrupting your sleep schedule.

Sleep patterns can vary widely across sleepers. The time it takes to adjust your sleep schedule and develop a regular sleep routine depends on several factors. It may take a couple of weeks or it could take a few months. With a little dedication and patience, it’s possible to reset your body’s circadian rhythm when it gets off-balance. Try not to change too much too fast. For example, try moving your bedtime back by just 15 minutes every couple of days until you get it back to where it needs to be. Give yourself time.

Most people can successfully reset their body clocks within a couple of weeks after a short deviation, barring any serious sleep disorders. And as always, if you think you might be dealing with a sleep disorder, it’s best to talk with your doctor.

It can feel frustrating to have your sleep cycle get off track. Just be patient and allow yourself the time and space to make small changes that can help reset your circadian clock. Try a few of these tips for fixing your sleep schedule and get ready for sweet dreams.

90,000 So that night shifts do not harm: how to build a schedule correctly

Entering the Moscow metro, have you noticed how many people go about their business from early morning until late at night, including at lunchtime? Big cities “do not sleep”, and with them representatives of many professions who are forced to work at night. These are chauffeurs, waiters, shop assistants, bartenders, cleaners, nightclub managers and many others. About how to build a schedule with night shifts, as well as how to cure snoring and who should not drive, we talked with Vladimir Dorokhov, head of the Laboratory of Sleep and Wakefulness Neurobiology at the Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology, Russian Academy of Sciences.

Some somnologists argue that the human body never adapts to shift work. Is it true?

– Shift work is really bad, because a person is a diurnal animal and all his rhythms are focused on the day. But since we are genetically very different, there are “larks”, “owls”, “pigeons”, then not all are equally adapted to work at night. Some may, some may not, and if life makes them work that way, they recover very poorly.It is impossible to speak unambiguously.

The term “chronotype” was introduced by the Russian physiologist Alexei Alekseevich Ukhtomsky. It denotes the nature of daily activity typical for a particular person. Circadian rhythms are fluctuations in the intensity of biological processes depending on the time of day. For example, the sleep-wake cycle.

We once worked with a bus fleet, they had six shifts. According to the law, night work is paid more, but for a certain number of hours per month.And the car depots are cunning – they change the operating mode so as not to overpay. As a result, a person works in the morning, then in the afternoon, then in the evening. The rhythm of his adaptation is thrown off, which is very bad.

There is a well-known phrase: “The daily routine must be observed” – this also applies to shift work. It is important that a person gets used to a certain schedule, under which in about a month all the rhythms, genetic mechanisms that provide our biochemistry will be rearranged.

In addition, for 10 years we have registered accidents at the motor depot.We have seen chronotypes and circadian genes in drivers that are responsible for chronotypes. And it turned out that larks have accidents when they work the evening shifts.

Do you mean that the human genes contain an “owl” or a “lark”?

– Of course. It is these extreme types that are genetically determined. There are intermediate, as we call them, “pigeons”, with them it is not so pronounced. The chronotype is determined not by one gene, but by several. Today we can very quickly perform a saliva analysis and find out whether a person is a lark or an owl and which regimen is right for him.This can be determined using special questionnaires. They work well too.

It is contraindicated to drive a car for people with what sleep disorders?

– First, sleep apnea. If a person snores, it may be a pathology, it may just be snoring. In obstructive sleep apnea, snoring occurs because the inside of the throat is constricted and air is difficult to pass through. The walls of the larynx can close so tightly that breathing stops and it becomes difficult for oxygen to enter the brain.In some cases, several such stops can occur in an hour, and because of this, the person does not get enough sleep. If a person did not get enough sleep at night, he is a potential emergency worker, even a healthy person.

There is a curve of the duration of driving without stopping, where continuous driving for 10 or 12 hours in a row for the danger of an accident is already equated to certain doses of alcohol. The likelihood of making a mistake is the same. And if the presence of alcohol in the driver’s blood can be determined, then the level of his sleepiness is not.And this condition can accumulate.

There is such a test for the level of sleepiness, when a person is asked to sleep and watched how quickly he falls asleep. The faster he falls asleep, the more he needs sleep.

So snoring people are potential emergency workers?

– For serious pathologies – yes.

Is apnea treated today?

– There are many somnological centers in Moscow that diagnose. People sleep in the laboratory, the number of respiratory stops, the level of oxygen drop in the blood is determined, and they are prescribed CPAP therapy.At night, a person is put on a mask like the one worn with artificial respiration. It closes the mouth and nose, and pressurized air is pumped into the throat to expand the walls of the larynx. In good cases, the person will undergo treatment for a month and for some time can breathe calmly at night, but often the therapy needs to be repeated. This is individual, but in both cases, the quality of life rises sharply.

Now there is such a service – laser surgery in the sky. Is this an effective way to combat snoring?

– Parts of the soft palate, uvula and larynx are surgically removed, but in most cases this is done, unfortunately, without controlling night sleep. Then the tissues grow again, in successful cases the effect lasts for a long time. If you do this operation, you need a very experienced specialist, it all depends on the skill of the surgeon.

Daytime sleep – is it good or bad?

– A short nap improves the quality of life for those who do not get enough sleep at night. There is an opinion that a good day’s sleep makes two days. It is advisable that he was in the afternoon, at about one in the afternoon. The time should last a maximum of 40 minutes. Personally, 10-15 minutes is enough for me.If you sleep for more than 75 minutes, the so-called sleep inertia sets in, the person remains drowsy for a long time. Reaching the deep stage of sleep during the day is already superfluous.

What is the laboratory working on now?

– We are developing a methodology to use electromagnetic waves on a person to improve the quality of his sleep. We started with mice – we have a good automated installation, we simultaneously send eight experimental animals there. All mice have an encephalogram, and we can see the duration of sleep before and after exposure to electromagnetic waves in order to determine the optimal mode.Now we are choosing the optimal mode of electromagnetic stimulation in terms of frequency, intensity, duration, and also determining when it is better to act – day or night. There are few such studies in the world.

In addition, we are planning to work on the relationship between the chronotype and parkinsonism – is it possible to determine a person’s predisposition to Parkinson’s disease by the chronotype?

In the case of humans, how will this therapy be administered?

– Contactless. Nearby, for example, under the pillow, there will be a small disc, which creates a very weak electromagnetic field, below the sanitary and hygienic standards.We expect this to have an effect. We’ve already got some results on mice, but research is ongoing. Within a year, research can be transferred to humans.

Interviewed by Maria Al-Salhani

Using iPhone Sleep to track sleep

Set the amount of time you need to sleep each night, and the Clock app will remind you when it’s time to go to bed and set an alarm to wake you up.

Setting the “Sleep” function

When you first set up your sleep mode in the Clock app, you will be asked a few questions.

Open the Clock app and select the Sleep tab.
Click “Proceed” and select settings.
Click Finish.

After you set a sleep time, iPhone will remind you when it’s time to go to bed, and an alarm will ring at the specified wake-up time.

Enabling and disabling the “Sleep” function

Open the Clock app and select the Sleep tab.
In the Schedule section, click Sleep or Wake Up.
In the upper right corner, turn Sleep Schedule on or off.

The function turns off the alarm clock and the reminder about going to bed.

Change the time and days of the alarm and reminders

Open the Clock app and select the Sleep tab.
In the Schedule section, click Sleep or Wake Up.
Drag the Sleep button or the Alarm button.As you drag and drop, the time in the Sleep and Wake boxes will update automatically.
In the “On which days” section, select the days for the alarm to go off and to receive reminders. Marked days are highlighted in orange.

Sleep History Tracker

Open the Clock app and select the Sleep tab.
Scroll down to the Analysis section for recent history.

If you use your iPhone during the estimated sleep time, this period will be counted in the application as awake. If you snooze the alarm, the sleep time will update accordingly.

The data collected by the Sleep function will be automatically transferred to the Health app.

Change settings

Open the Clock app and select the Sleep tab.
In the upper left corner, click Options.
The following settings can be changed.
- Sleep reminder activation time.
- Enable or disable the Track Sleep Time feature. It gives you a more complete picture of your sleep patterns by tracking the moments when you use your iPhone at night.
- Enable or disable Do Not Disturb While Sleep. During sleep, the brightness of the lock screen decreases, the sounds for calls and notifications that come to the locked device are muted, and notifications are logged in history.
- Wake-up ringtone on alarm clock.
- Alarm volume.
Click Finish.

View history in the Health app

To analyze sleep on iOS 13, open the Clock app, select the Sleep tab, then click Show More in Health.The Sleep Analysis graph displays the time spent in bed or asleep.

The Sleep feature in the Watch app tracks the time you spent in bed, but not how much you slept or moved around. Apple Watch is also unable to track sleep or time in bed.

To determine how long you sleep, try connecting a sleep tracker to the Health app. You can also manually set your sleep time: open the Clock app, select the Sleep tab, then click Show More in Health.In the upper right corner, click “Add data”. Learn more about the Health app.

Date of publication: April 12, 2021

90,000 Apple Watch Sleep and iPhone Sleep

Create personalized sleep schedules to achieve your sleep goals and improve overall health.

Setting the “Sleep” function

Adequate sleep is important for overall health. The Health app on iPhone can help you set your sleep goals and track your progress towards that goal.

Open the Health app on your iPhone.
Click Proceed under Customize Sleep, then click Next.
Following the instructions on the screen, set:
- Sleep Goals: Set the desired sleep duration.
- Time to go to sleep and wake up: Set when you want to go to bed and wake up.
- Sleep Screen: To reduce distraction, iPhone can include a simplified lock screen and Sleep focusing at scheduled sleep times. You can also allow specific users or apps to send you notifications. In the Settings app on iPhone, tap Focus> Sleep. Click People or Apps under Allowed Notifications and select the people and apps that can send you notifications when the Sleep focus is on.
- Quick Commands for Rest Periods: Add Quick Commands to help you relax before bed, such as playing home scripts, listening to soothing music, or using your favorite meditation app.
- Apple Watch Sleep Tracking: Leave your watch on at night to track your sleep. This option is available during setup if your Apple Watch has been paired with your iPhone beforehand. If you pair your Apple Watch after setup, you can still turn on sleep tracking on your Apple Watch.

Sleep is not available with Family Setting.

Sleep target setting

You can customize the desired sleep duration on your iPhone or Apple Watch.

On iPhone

Open the Health app, tap Browse at the bottom of the screen, then tap Sleep. If Sleep Mode is saved in your Favorites list, you can open it from the Overview page in the Health app.
Click Full Schedule & Options.
Click Sleep Target in the More Information section.
Configure the sleep target, then press the selected time to save the changes.

On Apple Watch

Open the Sleep app and tap Full Schedule.
Click Sleep Target under Options.
Use the Plus and Minus buttons to set the target.
Click Sleep Target in the upper left corner to go back and save your changes.

Change sleep schedule on iPhone

If you need to update your sleep schedule, you can make changes to the full schedule or just for the next wake up. If you select “Next Wake Only”, your changes are applied only to the next day. Changes made to the complete schedule apply to all future days.

Update only next wakeup

Open the Health app, tap Browse at the bottom of the screen, then tap Sleep.If Sleep Mode is saved in your Favorites list, you can open it from the Overview page in the Health app.
Click Edit below the Sleep Schedule in the Next section.
Drag the ring slider to set bedtime and wakeup times. The slider will turn orange if the schedule does not match the sleep goal.
Tap Wake Up Alarm to activate the alarm and adjust its sound, volume, and tactile signals.
Click Finish to save your changes.

You can also change the time for the next alarm in the Clock application.

Full schedule update

Open the Health app and tap Sleep.
Click a schedule under Full Schedule and Options.
Click Edit below the schedule you want to update.
Click Active by Day and drag the ring slider to set bedtime and wakeup times. The slider will turn orange if the schedule does not match the sleep goal.
Tap Wake Up Tone to turn on the alarm and adjust its sound, volume, and tactile feel.
Click Finish to save your changes.

If necessary, you can disable the sleep schedule.In the Health app, tap View> Sleep> Full Schedule & Options. Then click Sleep Schedule at the top of the screen to turn the schedule on or off.

Changing the sleep schedule on Apple Watch

If you wake up earlier than the scheduled time, you can exit the Sleep focus mode. Turn the Digital Crown to unlock your Apple Watch. Swipe up to open Control Center and tap the Sleep app icon.

Update only next wakeup

Open the Sleep app.
Click the schedule under Next.
Click Wake Up or Sleep.
Press hours or minutes and use the Digital Crown to set the time. Then click the checkmark to save your changes.
Tap Alarm to turn on the alarm, set the sound and tactile signals.
Click Change Schedule in the upper left corner to save the changes for the next day.

Full schedule update

Open the Sleep app and tap Full Schedule.
Click the schedule you want to change.
Tap the days under Active, then tap the days you want to schedule sleep for.
Click Finish to save your changes.
Click Wake Up or Sleep.
Press hours or minutes and use the Digital Crown to set the time. Then click the checkmark to save your changes.
Tap Alarm to turn on the alarm and customize its sound and tactile signals.
Click Change Schedule in the upper left corner to save your changes to the full schedule.

The complete schedule can be disabled if required. In the Sleep app, tap Full Schedule, then tap Sleep Schedule to turn the sleep schedule off or on.

Quick command management for rest periods

You can add app shortcuts to your iPhone to help you relax and get ready for sleep.

Add a quick command

Open the Health app and tap Sleep.
Click a schedule under Full Schedule and Options.
Click Quick Commands for Rest Periods.
Click Add Quick Command or Add Another Quick Command if you have already added a command.
Click the application, then click the Add button to add a quick command. You can also click Show Apps From App Store to find and add new apps.

Delete shortcut

Open the Health app and tap Sleep.
Click a schedule under Full Schedule and Options.
Click Quick Commands for Rest Periods.
Click the Delete button.

View sleep history

To view your sleep history, open the Health app on your iPhone, tap Browse at the bottom of the screen, then tap Sleep.If Sleep has been added to your favorites, you can open it from the Overview page in the Health app.

Based on how the iPhone is used at night, the Sleep feature on the iPhone tracks time in bed and generates charts. For a bar chart, the default mode is “H” (week). Click the “M” at the top of the chart to view your sleep history for the last month. Tap Show More Sleep Data to view sleep duration information such as Average Time In Bed and Average Sleep Time.Tap any details to see how they appear in the diagram above.

View respiration rate

You can measure and track your breathing rate on Apple Watch Series 3 or later with watchOS 8. * With Apple Watch Sleep Tracker enabled, Apple Watch automatically measures and records your breaths per minute when you go to bed …

To view your respiratory rate data, open the Health app on your iPhone and tap Browse at the bottom of the screen. Tap Breathing, then tap Respiratory Rate.

* Respiratory Rate is not available for people under 18 years of age.

Get More Accurate Results with Apple Watch

If you pair your Apple Watch after you finish setting up the sleep function, you can still turn on sleep tracking on your Apple Watch.In the Watch app on iPhone, select the My Watch tab, then tap Sleep. Then tap Apple Watch Sleep Tracking to enable this setting. To get the most accurate results when wearing the watch while sleeping:

Turn on charging reminders. Open the Watch app on iPhone, select the My Watch tab, and then tap Sleep. Tap Charging Reminders to remind Apple Watch to charge before your rest period.If your watch runs out of battery, it won’t track your sleep data.
Make sure the Apple Watch is comfortable on your wrist. If the watch is worn too loosely, the accelerometer may register excessive movements during your natural sleep.

Published Date: November 18, 2021

90,000 Sleep culture: how to establish a regimen and start getting enough sleep

Lack of sleep is truly a disease of our time. This is largely due to the transition from an agrarian society to an industrial one. In modern society, a person is less and less dependent on seasonality and the change of day and night. According to the Sleep Cycle app, the Russian goes to bed at 1:05 and wakes up at 8:06.Slovakia ranks first in terms of sleep quality. It is followed by China, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Switzerland, Taiwan, Austria, Ukraine, and Germany. Russia is in 11th place.

“One of the main causes of lack of sleep is the use of electricity. Unlike fireplaces and candles, it allows you to extend the daylight hours with the help of bright lighting, which helps a person to function fully at night, – explains Sergey Yarosh, a sleep doctor at the Clinic of the Scientific Research Institute of Physiology and Fundamental Medicine.- There is a concept of voluntary sleep deprivation, when a person himself limits his sleep in favor of work or entertainment. Of course, in some cases we are talking about conditional voluntariness. It means that a person can choose between health and work. ”

“Artificial light (bright white or blue spectrum) suppresses the production of melatonin, a hormone that is involved in the regulation of the biorhythm of sleep and wakefulness. The more artificial light, the less melatonin is produced, and falling asleep occurs later on average by 1.5 hours, ”says Elena Tsareva, Ph.D., neurologist-somnologist at the Atlas Medical Center.

Sleep disorders and their symptoms

The first and most harmless signs of lack of sleep: a person wakes up not rested, headache, muscles and joints. “From the point of view of medicine, sleep is not just a process of ‘turning off reality’, but a way to ‘rework’ all the events that happened to us during the day. As a result of all this, various problems with sleep can arise, – says Dr. Aparna Wilson, doctor of the network of Ayurvedic clinics and yoga therapy “Atreya Ayurveda”.- With prolonged lack of sleep, we do not have time to process the information that comes in, productivity drops, all this also affects the immune system. Very advanced cases can trigger the onset of diabetes, weight loss due to imbalance in hormones, severe hair loss, skin rashes, and digestive problems. ”

The most famous sleep disorders are apnea (stopping breathing during sleep), insomnia, restless legs syndrome, sleepwalking. “As a rule, insomnia is directly related to the level of stress suffered.An overabundance of new information often leads to an increase in the level of anxiety and depression. Snoring is synonymous with an unpleasant and annoying sound, but for doctors it is one of the symptoms of apnea – stopping breathing during sleep, stopping the flow of air into the lungs, says Elena Tsareva. – Breathing pauses during sleep with snoring occur due to obstructions in the airways, which can be caused by the presence of adenoids, polyps, inflammation of the tonsils, the accumulation of adipose tissue in the pharynx, or due to anatomical features of the pharynx, for example, a large tongue.It is also possible to reduce muscle tone due to smoking, hypothyroidism (a disease caused by a decrease in the function of the thyroid gland) or neurological diseases. ”

“Restless legs – a feeling that something or someone is crawling along the legs, therefore, in a dream, a person begins to move his legs. At the moment, the real reasons for this ailment have not been clarified, but it is absolutely certain that the syndrome most often occurs in women. Sleepwalking can happen when we are overworked or under stress.That is why children suffer more from it due to emotionality and fragile nervous system, ”explains Dr. Aparna Wilson. Elena Tsareva adds that restless legs syndrome can progress along with various diseases, for example, with iron deficiency anemia, hypothyroidism, kidney disease, as well as with exposure to caffeine or certain medications.

The body’s response to lack of sleep

Even one sleepless night can lead to memory impairments, loss of concentration and attention, increased levels of aggression, irritability and anxiety.“In the long term, sleep deficit creates additional stress on the nervous, cardiovascular and endocrine systems, increases the risk of developing diabetes mellitus and can be a cause of obesity,” says a neurologist-somnologist at the Atlas Medical Center.

Under a normal daily schedule, a person sleeps at night. Sleep is a repetitive cycle. One cycle consists of two phases – slow and REM sleep. “During the phase of REM sleep, physical recovery of the body occurs, and during the phase of REM sleep, psychological.REM sleep helps, for example, to move from short-term memory to long-term information that is important. By the way, it is possible that information processing processes manifest themselves in the form of dreams. When a person does not get enough sleep, recovery processes do not occur or they are ineffective, – explains Sergey Yarosh. – About 50 years ago, researchers tested selective sleep deprivation on volunteers. When a person was deprived of slow-wave sleep, he was much more tired during the day. The deprivation of the phase of REM sleep even led to cases when the subject fell into a psychotic state (psychosis).

Sleep apps

All experts are convinced that applications only distract from sleep, focusing a person’s attention on the gadget and missing the stage of falling asleep. Although such applications are common, they cannot help with the disorder.

“Such applications can only very roughly and approximately estimate the phases of a person’s sleep. They assess motor activity during sleep, but such data are insufficient for diagnosis. They can be used if you want to experiment, but not for real sleep problems.To assess the structure of a person’s sleep, a special medical study is required, ”says Sergei Yarosh.

“Since indirect methods are used in assessing sleep stages, this does not even give an approximate recognition of the stages or phases of sleep, as is done in polysomnography. The error of operation of such applications is up to one and a half hours for adults and up to two hours for children, ”Elena Tsareva is convinced.

How to improve sleep quality

When choosing a mode, you should focus on the desired work schedule, personal preferences and daylight hours.Daytime sleep is best avoided so as not to disturb falling asleep in the evening. And you need to wake up in the morning when it’s already light. During periods when the daylight hours are shorter, you can use “smart” gadgets, for example, light alarms. “For most people, it is most physiological to go to bed around 10–23 pm – this is due to the production of melatonin in the dark, with a peak after midnight, when the deepest sleep should be. The duration of sleep normally ranges from 4 to 12 hours, the most optimal is considered to be 6.5–8 hours of sleep.In addition to regularity, you need to pay attention to nutrition and physical activity, – advises Elena Tsareva. – Skip a night snack or have dinner two to three hours before bed. Avoid both energy drinks and those that contain caffeine. Avoid watching TV before bed and put your phone down. Intensive sports should be rescheduled in the morning or limited to at least two to three hours before bedtime. ”

“Good advice for those who have trouble getting up: if you woke up before the alarm clock, you should not“ fill up ”the 15–20 minutes remaining.Most likely, you woke up when another sleep cycle ended. If you fall asleep again, chances are high that you will have to wake up in slow wave sleep. This awakening is much harder for the body, ”says Sergei Yarosh.

Dr. Aparna Wilson recommends strictly monitoring bedtime, ventilating the sleeping area, practicing relaxing meditation techniques, and using aromatic oils. If you can’t sleep, you can massage your head or feet.But it is important to remember that if you have really serious sleep problems, you need to see a specialist.

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Sleep mode with a changeable night schedule. The Secrets of Good Sleep

In the United States, one fifth of all jobs are in shift, including night, work.In Russia, these numbers are hardly lower: many of us also work at night. At the same time, a doctor on duty, a security guard and a metallurgist standing at the open-hearth furnace have one common problem: poor sleep due to work, which arose as a result of disturbances in circadian rhythms.

Ideally, our wakefulness should correspond to the light part of the day, and sleep – to the dark. Accordingly, our internal clock works, biochemical and physiological reactions take place in the body. While the sun is over the horizon, all organ systems are actively working, our metabolism “accelerates”, the body temperature rises.By nightfall, all these processes slow down, the hormonal background, the synthesis of enzymes, the activity of the nervous system, and so on change; we feel tired and want to sleep.

The shiftable night schedule disrupts the biological clock. Moreover, for a shift worker, day and night do not always simply change places. A person may have a floating work schedule at night and during the day: a chaotic alternation of day, day and night shifts. As a result, disturbances in circadian rhythms occur and gradually worsen.Circadian rhythms (internal clock, biological clock) are fluctuations in the intensity of various biological processes associated with the change of day and night.

The cause of circadian disorders may be due not only to the fact that a person has a shift schedule. If you’ve ever made long-distance flights, then remember how it felt to be a few hours “before” or “after” your usual time. Roughly the same is experienced by an employee who has an uncomfortable schedule, with the only difference that he does not occasionally jump in time, but several times a week.

Daytime sleepiness, trouble falling asleep, low mood, tendency to depression, indigestion – the symptoms of circadian rhythm disturbances significantly impair the quality of life. Ideally, to improve sleep and stay healthy, you should stop working at night. But if you can’t keep the shift night schedule, you can at least try to reduce its harmful effects. The following tips will help you with this.

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Work with a shift schedule. Before shift

If you can, try to plan your employment schedule like this …

So that you don’t have “one and a half” shifts when you work day, night and the next day.Only a day or 12 hours, and then rest. Otherwise, a bad dream due to work is simply guaranteed.
So that night shifts alternate with day shifts not chaotically , but in the prescribed manner. For example, it is convenient to plan a shift night schedule in the “three days after” or “one night shift – rest – two days” mode.
To rotate the chart “clockwise”. Example: one day you work during the day, one in the evening, one at night. This will make it easier to adapt.

On the day before shift do not drink alcohol .
If you have to work all night, and even more so the night and the next day, then be sure to you need to get at least 2-4 hours of sleep just before you go to work .
If the shift lasts only until half of the night, it is better not to sleep for a long time before work – there is a great risk of not falling asleep until the morning. Alternatively, you can take a nap for 20-30 minutes to freshen up.
If a night shift is planned, try to get a good night’s sleep the previous night .
Before leaving for work, prepare your own food, so that when you return you can have a quick snack and go to bed.

Work with shift schedule. During shift

If possible, sleep at work . Representatives of some specialties (fire brigades on duty, watchmen) are allowed to do this. If you are forbidden to sleep for a long time with a shift schedule, you can take a 20-30 minute nap in the middle of the night during your work break.
It is best not to eat after ten o’clock in the evening; the digestive organs are not tuned to vigorous activity at night. If you allow yourself to eat, avoid heavy meals, as well as any heavy, greasy food.
If you eat at work, do not do it while running . Sit down and eat slowly. Otherwise, there is a great risk of eating more than planned unnoticed, and this will aggravate the consequences of a sleepless night.
Caffeinated foods and drinks are allowed only in the first half of the night .Stop taking them 6 hours before going to bed (that is, about 5 hours before the end of the shift), as this may prevent you from falling asleep after returning home.
If closer to the end of the night shift you want to sleep, but you can no longer have coffee, use other methods to help you invigorate : exercise, going out into the fresh air, washing with cold water, some kind of focused activity, etc.
During the night shift, drink water (0.7-1l per night), this helps prevent dehydration, aggravating the consequences of disturbed circadian rhythms.

Work with shift schedule. After the change

On the way home , if it’s sunny outside, put on dark glasses ; darkness promotes the production of the sleep hormone, and this is exactly the time of preparation for rest and is needed.
If it is far from home, it is better to get there by transport , otherwise, firstly, you will lose time that you could spend on sleep, and secondly, because of a fast walk, cheer up and may not want to sleep at home …
If, due to night work, you slept less than 5-6 hours in total per day, it is recommended to sleep after it . In this case:

Do not fall asleep on the way home ; sleep after the night shift should not be interrupted, it is better to sleep once and for a rather long time than a few times a little.
Provide yourself with full-fledged conditions for rest : good darkening of the bedroom, silence, sleep without outerwear and in your own bed.If necessary, you can use an eye mask and use ear plugs.
If you are hungry, before bedtime, you can have a light meal , consisting of cereals, fruits, vegetables.
Take Melaxen tablet 40-60 minutes before bedtime; it is an artificial sleep hormone with hypnotic and adaptogenic effects.
Determine the optimal duration of “post-work” sleep , so that during the day you sleep approximately as much as your body usually requires.Agree, if you take a nap for a couple of hours before work, and then come home in the morning and sleep from 8 to 16 pm, it is unlikely that it will be easy for you to fall asleep the next night. In such a situation, it would be better to limit your rest after changing to 5 hours of sleep.
When you fall asleep after your shift, set an alarm or ask someone to wake you up at the time when you scheduled awakening . Otherwise, you can oversleep, and this will further disrupt your already suffering “sleepy” schedule.
The duration of sleep after work should be a multiple of the duration of one sleep cycle (it lasts 1.5-2 hours).This will help you wake up easily, without headaches, heaviness in the head and drowsiness, and then you can spend the rest of the day fully.

After waking up, take a shower, exercise, drink coffee – this will help you to quickly “merge” into everyday life.
Discuss the specifics of your work with the household and explain that you need rest after shifts. . Silence during your daytime sleep, planning important events for the moments when you will definitely be in good shape, helping with some everyday moments – all this is very important so that an uncomfortable shift schedule brings you as little discomfort as possible.
On days when you are not working, observe the constant and correct routine : you must go to bed and get up at the same time. Even on weekends!
Exercise regularly , it increases the adaptive capacity of the body, improves the quality of sleep and well-being in general.
Try to avoid stress , as it aggravates the circadian disturbance that occurs.

Working hours at night are very inconvenient.But by using the tips above, you can make sure your sleep and quality of life are affected as little as possible by night shifts. Although ideally, of course, you should think hard about whether working with a schedule at night is worth the suffering that you have to endure because of it.

A person should not work at night. This is unnatural, difficult and dangerous. Night work is isolation from the family, poor health and health problems in the future. Thus, it was found that a shift night schedule increases the incidence of hormone-dependent tumors, especially in women, and diabetes mellitus, especially in men.In general, all shift workers can be advised to look for alternatives.

I wish you all such work that it brings pleasure and does not interfere with sleep!

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Lesson 1. Correct daily routine

How to make up a daily routine is one of the most important topics of a healthy lifestyle. Each person is faced with the need to allocate their time. Sometimes, as in the case of work, it is a necessity. Sometimes, for example, when planning the most productive pastime or rest, this is expediency.

A correct daily routine involves the rational use of sleep time, personal hygiene, nutrition, work, rest, sports and physical activity. Planning a daily routine and following it makes a person disciplined, develops organization and purposefulness. As a result, a mode of life is also developed, in which the expenditure of time and energy for insignificant things is minimized.

In this lesson, answers will be given to questions about the correct daily routine, the peculiarities of the influence of biological rhythms on the activity and efficiency of human activity, the main approaches and methods of drawing up the daily routine for different people: men and women of different professions, adults, students and schoolchildren.

Contents:

What is the daily routine

Let’s start with the definition:

Daily routine – a well-thought-out daily routine, time planning in order to allocate it rationally and as efficiently as possible.

As mentioned above, the routine is of great importance for self-discipline and organization of any person, and it is also important for many other applied aspects of our life. For example, the daily routine plays an important role in building training programs, drawing up diets and organizing proper nutrition in general, choosing the most productive hours of our life for work or creativity.

Mason Curry, in his book Genius Regime: The Daily Routines of Great People, gives the following analogy to the daily routine:

“In the right hands, the daily routine is a precisely calibrated mechanism that allows us to make the best use of our limited resources: first of all, the time we need most, as well as willpower, self-discipline, optimism. An ordered regime is like a track along which mental forces move at a good pace … “

The daily routine is needed so that time does not take advantage of our absent-mindedness (see.epigraph). Each person faced in their activities with haste, a sense of amorphousness of time, confusion in personal and work affairs. We cannot always say clearly how much time we spent on a particular activity, since we do not consider it necessary to constantly monitor the use of our time. However, it is the entire daily routine that helps to allocate your time in the most reasonable and efficient way. In addition, without the skill of successfully planning your day, a person will not learn to make longer-term plans, especially since planning your daily schedule is not so difficult, because :

✔	Day as the minimum unit for planning is the most convenient due to its easy visibility.
✔	If any attempt fails, you can rebuild and change the mode the next day.

Note also the fact that the use of the epithet “correct” in relation to the daily routine is somewhat arbitrary. For each person individually, the concept of the correct routine can be different and depend on many factors: work, habits, characteristics of the body. But, according to experts (psychologists and physicians), the physiological aspects of the functioning of the basic life systems of people are identical [Wedemeyer G.A., 1996]. On the basis of this, it is possible to draw up a universal mode containing general recommendations that will suit everyone to one degree or another. Based on the proposed recommendations, taking into account your individual needs, you can work out a daily routine that is optimal for you.

Biological rhythms and daily routine

Without taking into account the daily biological rhythms of the body, a person is unlikely to be able to form an organized and effective daily routine [Nature, 2009].For example, if a person who usually wakes up at 7 in the morning will sleep until 4 in the morning one day, after waking up he will most likely feel tired, fatigued, and a slowdown in the pace of activity. This condition occurs as a result of ignoring the characteristics of biological rhythms, biological clocks and circadian rhythms.

Biological rhythms ( biorhythms ) – periodically repeating changes in the nature and intensity of biological processes and phenomena in living organisms, on which their functionality depends.

Biorhythms are internal ( endogenous ), depending on the biological clock of the body, and external ( exogenous ), which are manifested in the synchronization of internal cycles (change of sleep and wakefulness) with external stimuli (change of day and night). In terms of drawing up the daily routine, we are most interested in circadian rhythms – cyclical fluctuations in the intensity of various biological processes associated with the change of day and night, the period of which is approximately equal to 24 hours [“Komsomolskaya Pravda”, 2016].

Until recently, many researchers attributed the study of biorhythms to a non-academic direction of physiology, but thanks to recent studies, the situation has changed somewhat. For example, in the human brain, they found a tiny cluster in the hypothalamus, about 20,000 neurons in size, which controls many of the body’s circadian rhythms. Known as the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), this center acts as an internal pacemaker in the body and influences human biorhythms [Moore R.Y., 2001].

Owls and Larks

Psychologists often refer to the well-known division of people, depending on the period of their activity, into “owls” and “larks.” The first ones find it difficult to get up early in the morning, and their peak of activity occurs in the evening and night hours. The latter, on the contrary, are active in the morning, and by the evening they quickly lose their energy reserves. It is interesting that in many African countries there are practically no “owls”, this is due to the fact that many villages and cities are not electrified, which means that when the sun goes down, local life freezes.

In addition to “owls” and “larks”, there is also an unofficial transitional option – these are the so-called “doves”, which combine the features of both categories: such people can wake up and be equally active and efficient in doing business at different times of the day. In addition, two more types of people are distinguished: those who do not sleep well and sleepyheads. Little sleepers are active both early in the morning and late in the evening, and to recuperate they need only 3-4 hours of sleep (such people included, for example, the famous inventor T.Edison). “Sony”, on the contrary, are inactive, feel tired and tired at any time of the day.

The proposed classification is rather arbitrary, since, as practice shows, a normal healthy person, if desired, can gradually change his type of wakefulness without harm to the body. The main thing is the presence of willpower and the right strategy.

For example, many politicians, businessmen, athletes who travel a lot around the world often have to rearrange their circadian rhythms in accordance with the time difference between cities, so as not to lose efficiency in their work when changing time zones.In practice, even special recommendations have been developed that will help you rebuild your regime as painlessly as possible after changing the time zone. To do this, you should :

1	Plan the first days of your arrival so that, if possible, the psychological and physical stress is minimal.
2	Eat only light food two days before the flight, exclude alcoholic beverages, as well as dishes that are unusual for you, and, if possible, refrain from smoking.
3	Consider that it is better to fly from east to west by morning or afternoon flight, and from west to east by evening.
4	3-5 days before departure, gradually rebuild your schedule in accordance with the time zone of the place where you intend to fly.
5	If you are flying west, try to go to bed and get up later. When traveling eastward, you need to fall asleep earlier and wake up early in the morning.

Often people do not even have to use their willpower to change the mode of activity, since the human body is able to independently adapt to changing external conditions. For example, regular schoolchildren tend to attend classes at 8:30 am during a long period of study. Over the years, the student’s body gets used to following a given circadian rhythm, that is, to work actively in the morning. However, if, after leaving school, a graduate enters the university for the evening department, where classes are held in the second shift, the body has to adjust to the new schedule.Over time, the student’s biological clock naturally adapts to the new system without much effort on his part.

Knowing how the biological clock works will help you plan your day correctly. Below is an approximate calculation of the periods of activity of different systems of the average person by the hour:

04:00. Beginning of the circadian rhythm. At this time, the body releases the stress hormone cortisol into the bloodstream, which triggers the mechanisms of basic functions and is responsible for our activity.It is this hormone that helps wake up people who prefer to get up early.

05: 00-06: 00. Awakening of the body. During this period, the metabolism accelerates, the level of amino acids and sugar rises, which do not allow a person to sleep soundly in the morning.

07: 00-09: 00. Ideal time for light physical activity, when you can quickly tone the body relaxed after sleep. At this time, the digestive system works well: the absorption of nutrients is faster, which helps to efficiently process food and convert it into energy.

09: 00-10: 00. The period when the energy obtained from eating is absorbed. During this time, a person is able to cope well with tasks for attention and intelligence, as well as successfully use short-term memory.

10: 00-12: 00. The first peak of efficiency, the period of maximum mental activity. At this time, a person copes well with tasks that require increased concentration.

12: 00-14: 00. Time of deterioration in performance, when it is necessary to give rest to the tired brain.This period is suitable for a lunch break, since the work of the digestive tract accelerates, blood flows to the stomach, and the mental activity of the body decreases.

14: 00-16: 00. It is better to devote this time to calm digestion of what has been eaten, since the body is in a state of slight fatigue after dinner.

16: 00-18: 00. The second peak of activity and efficiency. The body received energy from food, all systems are working in full mode again.

18: 00-20: 00. The best time for dinner, the body will have time to digest the received food until the morning. After eating, you can take a walk or, after an hour, do physical exercises, go to workout.

20: 00-21: 00. This time is suitable for playing sports, visiting sections, socializing.

21: 00-22: 00. Period when the brain’s ability to memorize increases. It is not recommended to eat during this time.

22:00. The beginning of the sleep phase. The body starts restorative processes, the hormones of youth are released. The body goes into a state of rest.

23: 00-01: 00. At this time, the metabolic process slows down as much as possible, the body temperature and pulse rate decrease. The deep sleep phase begins when our body is best resting.

02: 00-03: 00. The period when all chemical reactions are slowed down, hormones are practically not produced. Lack of sleep during this time can lead to poor health and mood throughout the day.

Note: in the cold season there is a slight forward shift of the described processes of physiological activity in time.

Components of the daily routine

We have already said that it is impossible to offer a universal daily routine that would suit everyone. When scheduling, many personal factors are taken into account, but there are points that everyone must follow. These are necessary conditions for everyone who wants to lead a healthy lifestyle and be healthy.

Sleep

The realities of the modern world are such that many people either do not devote enough time to sleep, or regularly sleep more than is required for the body. In both cases, this negatively affects the physical condition of a person and his activities. A clear daily routine and a properly allocated time for sleep allow all human life support systems to recover and rest, and also help to avoid sleep and nervous system disorders [MedicalNewsToday, 2019, Ho L., 2020].

So, the ideal time for sleep is the period from 23.00 to 7.00 am [Healthline, 2019]. On average, an adult should sleep about 7-8 hours a day, although there are many cases when people slept much less (3-6 hours a day), but felt great and did their job effectively. Among the famous successful low-sleep people, it is worth noting Julius Caesar, Leonardo da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin, Napoleon Bonaparte, Thomas Jefferson, Salvador Dali, Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher.

However, you should not resort to extreme cases and neglect healthy sleep altogether. In the course of some clinical experiments, isolated cases were observed when people did not sleep for more than 250 hours in a row. By the end of this period of time, doctors noted the patients’ attention disorder, the inability to focus on an object for more than 20 seconds, and impaired psychomotor skills. Such experiments did not bring much harm to health, but they knocked the human body out of its usual state for several days.

For many people who want to align their schedule and learn to go to bed early, the actual question is “how to fall asleep” at the scheduled time. Here are some recommendations:

Instead of watching detective series on TV or surfing the Internet before bed, it’s best to read a book.
A few hours before bedtime, it is worth doing physical exercises, jogging, just walking.
Do not eat heavy food at night.
It is useful to ventilate the room before going to bed.
In such a way, create your daily routine so that during bedtime the body feels tired.

Even if you can’t fall asleep in the evening for a long time, you still need to get up at the scheduled time in the morning. You will not get enough sleep one day, but the next night you will be able to fall asleep earlier.

Meals

Everyone knows the phrase “to live, you need to eat”, but you need to eat right.We will talk in detail about proper nutrition and everything connected with it in the next lesson, here we will note only a few important nuances. Food is fuel for the body. With it, we receive not only energy for the day, which is spent on mental and physical activity, but also provide the body with the necessary vitamins and microelements. That is why it is important to eat regularly and fully, the need for a diet must necessarily be coordinated with a specialist who will help to draw up an optimal menu, taking into account the physiological needs of the body.

Rest

The restoration of strength and working capacity of the organism occurs not only during sleep, but also during the period of activity of the organism. During work, a person also needs rest, since it is impossible to constantly maintain a high level of ability to work. Don’t waste your lunch break doing work, get some rest, and soon you will be able to get down to business with renewed vigor and be more productive and efficient.

It is also important to rest after work.If you work at your computer all day, when you get home, spend the evening without it. Take the time to read, communicate with family and friends, and educate yourself.

Operation

Each of us has to work: schoolchildren – to go to classes and do homework, students – to attend lectures and seminars, prepare for exams, adults – to build a career and make a living. Knowing how to plan your working hours is an important part of your day in general. Self-management techniques, time management, as well as recommendations for increasing personal efficiency at work and outside it, you can find in the articles of a special section of our blog “Time-management”.

Physical activity

This is the recommended part of the day for everyone who cares about their health. Think about training, first of all, for those whose work limits the physical activity of the body throughout the day. Even if you do not have the opportunity to sign up for a gym or go to the pool, you can work out at home or on sites in courtyards and schools. In the presence of medical contraindications, instead of playing sports, you can practice light walks in the fresh air after eating.Read more about the role of physical activity in a healthy lifestyle in this lesson.

Mental balance

As the saying goes, “in a healthy body there is a healthy mind,” but the opposite is also true. If a person is calm and satisfied with life, enjoys work, it means that it is easier for him to observe the daily routine. To understand ourselves, we made a special course “Self-knowledge”, which will allow you to understand yourself, to understand your strengths and weaknesses. Learn more.

How to plan your daily routine

This is what Benjamin Franklin’s schedule of the day looked like in his Autobiography:

(image based on a fragment of M. Curry’s book)

Below are some guidelines for setting up your daily routine.

How to make an adult’s daily routine

When drawing up a daily routine, be guided by on the following points:

1	Try not only to think over the schedule, but also to write it down.Use special programs, a diary, or just write it down on a piece of paper. A written routine of the day will not only remind you of things to do, but also serve as a tacit reproach if something from the planned is not fulfilled.
2	It is important that at first only what you actually do during the day is included in the regime. Simply put, it is worth adding to the schedule items that you will most likely complete, for example, get up at 7 to pack up, have breakfast and, taking into account the road, be at work by 9.If you just want to go to the gym after work, but have never done this, you should not include such an item in the day plan. Later, when the idea is successfully implemented, the mode can be adjusted. Remember that you can only train yourself to follow a routine, and therefore self-discipline, only by fulfilling the real points of the schedule.
3	Rank tasks in different components of your regime (first of all, it concerns work).Set the completion of difficult tasks at the beginning and perform in the same order.
4	Try to take into account the physiological needs of your body, which were mentioned above. Practice good personal hygiene, stay up late, and eat at the same time.
5	It is also important that a few days after deciding to start drawing up a regime, you begin to mark the intervals of time spent on certain actions.Print the average of how long breakfast takes you, commuting to work, answering emails, chatting with colleagues, and more. Based on the data received, you need to draw up the first regimen of the day. The use of the “first” characteristic is not accidental – in the future, most likely, you will repeatedly adjust your regime, and it is important to learn during this process to rely on a specific time frame, and not on subjective feelings of the time spent.

Obviously, the daily routine is drawn up in accordance with employment at work, which is more or less defined.Nevertheless, it is important to plan not only working hours, but also rest, time for household chores and other matters. This can be difficult at times, but you will learn over time.

How to make a daily routine for a schoolchild (teenager)

There are also some highlights here:

1	The first thing to start with is the “field stage”. Some time needs to be spent on observation: how long does it take to get to school, to the section, prepare homework, etc.e. If a student composes his own regimen, the data obtained must be coordinated with the parents, who will help to take into account the peculiarities of age and allow sufficient time for rest.
2	School education is built taking into account pedagogical, psychological methods, and the nuances of age. The number of lessons, electives are given in such a volume so as not to overload the student. But the rest time needs to be planned separately.It is recommended to rest for at least 1.5 hours after the end of classes and another 1.5 hours after completing homework. It is advisable to spend part of this time outdoors.
3	It is unacceptable to spend most of your free time watching TV or playing computer games. This problem is solved by enrolling in sections and circles, fulfilling the responsibilities assigned by the parents around the house, and other more useful things.
4	It is important to motivate the child to follow the daily routine at first. It all depends on the parents.
5	For elementary school students, it is imperative to set aside time for naps. High school students can go to bed a little later, as well as independently make adjustments to their daily routine in accordance with employment.For the preparation of written homework assignments, the interval between 4 pm and 6 pm is best. It is better to read books and textbooks in the evening.

Below is one of the options for the hourly of the student’s day Grade 3, approved by pediatricians:

7:00. Rise.
7: 00-7: 30. Charging, washing.
7: 30-7: 45. Breakfast.
8: 30-13: 05. School activities.
13: 30-14: 00. Lunch.
14: 00-15: 45. Outdoor games, walks, outdoor activities.
15: 45-16: 00. Afternoon snack.
16: 00-18: 00. Self-study, homework.
18: 00-19: 00. Free time, rest.
19: 00-19: 30. Dinner.
19: 30-20: 00. Free time, housework.
20: 00-20: 30. Evening walk.
20: 30-21: 00. Getting ready for bed.
21:00. Dream.

And finally, one more option.

How to set up a student’s daily routine

The following recommendations will help to create a daily routine for a student :

1	Start by collecting and analyzing information about the time spent.If the daily routine was drawn up while still at school, then nothing will radically change in the daily routine of a student.
2	Compared to schoolchildren, students often have an increase in the amount of information they receive and the time for self-study. It should be borne in mind that mental activity should alternate with physical activity and spending time in the fresh air – to maintain health, these items should not be excluded from the schedule.
3	The student’s activity is associated with constant tension of mental powers, and in order to use them fruitfully, one must remember not only about the alternation of work and rest, but also about some other features. You need to enter the work gradually, first repeating already known material and only then starting to study new things.
4	The daily routine for the session must be compiled separately.Preparation should begin at the same time intervals as couples occur throughout the semester – the brain is already used to being active at such a time. Particular attention should be paid to nutrition and relaxation.
5	A correctly composed and thoughtful daily routine, no matter how difficult it is to adhere to it at first, will soon lead to the development of a dynamic stereotype, which will make it easier to follow the routine.

Polls and observations show that those students who make up the daily routine have up to 5 hours of free time for personal interests. Following the routine will allow you to maintain a healthy balance in your activity: not to spend all your time on “cramming” on the one hand, but also not to walk, constantly sleeping in pairs – on the other.

Test your knowledge

If you want to test your knowledge of the topic of this lesson, you can take a short test consisting of several questions.In each question, there can be only one correct answer. After you have selected one of the options, the system automatically proceeds to the next question. The points you receive are influenced by the correctness of your answers and the time spent on passing. Please note that the questions are different each time, and the options are mixed.

And then let’s talk about proper nutrition.

Sergey Krutko

How to set up a daily routine | LABA

Mason Curry in his book “Genius Mode” describes how great people lived: Simone de Beauvoir missed work on long vacations, Jackson Pollock slept until noon.Each lined up the regime as it was convenient for him. And without a schedule “from 9 to 18” the work bore fruit.

We learned about the daily routine of Rene Descartes, Elon Musk and other prominent people. We will tell you why a classic daily routine is not required, and representatives of what professions can and even need to work according to an individual schedule.

Descartes – the founder of analytical geometry, physicist and philosopher. He developed a rectangular coordinate system and studied mechanics and optics.

Descartes got up late, staying in bed until 11: “I sleep ten hours a day, knowing no worries.” Descartes believed that idleness was needed for the mind to work well. After dinner he went for a walk or talked with friends, and after dinner he dealt with correspondence.

In 1649, Descartes accepted an invitation to the court of Queen Christina of Sweden. Classes with the queen were scheduled for five in the morning. Just a month after the beginning of life according to the new schedule, Descartes fell ill and ten days later died – he could not stand the lack of sleep and the cold

Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922)

Bell is a Scottish scientist, one of the inventors of telephony and founder of the Bell Telephone Company.Unlike Descartes, he worked for days and slept for 3-4 hours. But then Alexander got married and his wife persuaded him to soften the schedule. At 8:30 he went up to breakfast, and at 19:00 the family was having dinner. But as soon as Alexander had a new idea, he worked 22 hours in a row. Bella’s wife Mabel has come to terms with her husband’s obsession.

How the effectiveness of employees in international companies is assessed

Thank you.It will be interesting!

Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977)

Nabokov wrote novels according to his own system – he made sketches on cards and collected them in catalog boxes. The writer said that the novel was ready in his head even before it began. When he created Lolita, Nabokov traveled around America. He wrote at night in the back seat of the car. A few months later I gave the cards to my wife so that she would print the text, and then I would rework the material again.

In a 1964 interview, Nabokov says:

My day usually starts at a lovely old-fashioned desk in my study. Then, when the force of gravity begins to pinch my calves, I sit in a comfortable chair at the desk, and finally, as the weight creeps up my spine, I lie down on the sofa.

The writer said that in the winter he got up at about seven, after waking up – he was thinking about the day, lying in bed. Then he shaved, had breakfast, meditated and took a bath.Until lunchtime he worked in the office, and during the break he walked with his wife along Lake Geneva. After lunch, he worked until 18:30, then went to the kiosk for newspapers and had dinner at 19:00. After dinner, he no longer worked, went to bed at about nine, read, and then could not fall asleep until one in the morning – Nabokov was tormented by insomnia.

“For pleasure, I’ll name a TV broadcast of a football match, sometimes a glass of wine or a sip of canned beer, sunbathing on the lawn, as well as composing chess problems,” – said the writer.

Psychologist Dmitry Yakim says that the work of thinkers and inventors is not always visible:

“Different people, including ‘geniuses’, spent different time on their work.But by work it is also important to understand those areas that we do not see. It’s hard to see the process of thinking about a problem, a task, a painting, or anything else. Sometimes for one insight you need many hours of “head-breaking” and even dead-end situations when a person thinks that the problem is insoluble. ”

How contemporaries plan the day

Elon Musk

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk works from 85 to 100 hours a week, 80% of his time he spends on the creation of vehicles and design development.The Musk calendar is divided into segments of five minutes. Six hours are enough for sleep – he wakes up at 7 in the morning, takes a shower, drinks coffee and eats an omelet on the go.

Musk doesn’t talk on the phone – he prefers mail. At lunchtime, he answers emails and holds meetings. Mondays and Fridays he works at SpaceX in Los Angeles, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays he works at Tesla in San Francisco.

On Saturday, Musk works on SpaceX or spends time with his five sons, sometimes distracted by email.Sunday – trips, meetings or rest in the mansion. Despite being busy, Elon Musk finds time to read.

Combines dinners and lunches with business meetings in restaurants, trains in the hall twice a week. In addition, Elon Musk loves parties – he celebrated his birthday in an English castle, where he arranged a grandiose game of hide and seek.

Khaleid Hosseini

American writer originally from Afghanistan, author of the books “A Thousand Splendid Suns” and “Runner with the Wind”, leads a measured lifestyle.In an interview with thedailybeast, he talked about his schedule: in the morning, Haleid works out, gets the kids to school, eats breakfast, reads the press and checks the news. From 8:30 to 14:00 he works on books, and then he picks up the children from school and “works as a dad” for the rest of the day.

I write while the children are quiet at school and at home. I lock myself in an office with coffee and a computer. I can’t listen to music while I’m writing, although I tried.

Outside his workplace, Haleid holds drawings of children and a guitar, which he picks up during short breaks, although he says his performance is disgusting.The writer says that the day is a success if he writes at least a couple of short sentences – this is how he sets the stage for the next day.

Brian Edward Cox

Physicist, participant of experiments at the Large Hadron Collider, lecturer at the University of Manchester, researcher at the Royal Society of London. Brian Cox is best known for a series of science programs on the BBC.

On ordinary days, the scientist likes to get up at 9 am.According to him, working at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) requires drinking a little alcohol. Brian says:

Red wine helps scientists to be more creative and think outside the box.

After work, Cox goes out for a beer with his colleagues, spends some time doing physics, and starts dinner. Before going to bed, he reads, but not about physics, otherwise he cannot fall asleep.

Psychologist Dmitry Yakim:

“Classic” get up early in the morning “and so on is a matter of standardization.This makes it easier to organize people in schools and at work. But if a person manages to maintain an active and prosperous life in a different mode, one can only rejoice in this. ”

How to plan your day if you are not Descartes

Without clear schedules, planes would not fly, we would not be able to buy coffee in the morning and get to the offices. In some professions, a strict regime is indispensable, but if you don’t have surgery or open the pharmacy in the morning, you can make your daily routine a little more convenient.Lecturers of the LABA educational platform and psychologist Dmitry Yakim tell how to stay productive and combine a convenient schedule with work.

How much sleep and how to wake up

Anton Shulyk, CEO of Civitta , says: “If possible, I sleep 9 hours a day. It is important to lie down before 24:00. But sometimes I conduct an experiment – I sleep from 20:00 to 01:00, and then I work until the morning and all day after. Sometimes on the contrary – I go to bed a little later, and I get up at 5:30 – 6:30.Immediately after waking up, I perform a complex or creative task. If I have time, I walk the dog in the morning and do a warm-up on the street – it takes about 40 minutes. Then I have breakfast with my family. ”

Oksana Ognevaya, director of recruitment at the IT company Miratech : “For a long time, about 15 years, I slept for 4 hours. But now I realized that the norm is 6-7 hours. Morning is a great time to tune in for an active and productive day. Waking up at 4 or 5 in the morning, you manage to do a lot of personal affairs, and by 9 you feel fully ready to deal with work issues. “

Psychologist Dmitry Yakim believes that the main indicator of sleep quality is the feeling that you have slept:

It is simple and difficult to determine the schedule and mode of sleep at the same time. Allow yourself to sleep as much as you want, and fall asleep when the desire arises. Often, people who work at night neglect this desire – they drink coffee and energy drinks so as not to fall asleep. If you don’t get enough sleep, this is the first sign that the regime is wrong.

How to organize work

Anton Shulyk says that organizing work for him is breaking down a task into subtasks, defining deadlines and resources. “I always answer the question:” Do I need this or does someone need it? ” If the task is not for me, then what will I get for it? It is important to work out motivation in any activity that requires effort. ”

Dmitry Yakim thinks: “In order to be in time for everything in a short time, you should like your work. If work is fun, you will do your best. If you are not interested, you will spend more time solving the problem. Neuroplasticity, that is, the variability of connections in the brain, is higher when a person is emotionally involved in a situation. “

When and where is it better to work

Business coach and marathon runner Alena Burdeynaya : “I train regularly, learn English and French. The rest of the cases I plan depending on the number of tasks: meetings, preparation for speeches, lectures, reports. I always leave some of the time free.

I work best from 11-12 noon, so I study in the morning, then I work, and in the evening I train.I work effectively in crowded and beautiful places – coworking, cozy coffee shop or client’s office. My workplace at home is perfect – overlooking the shopping center and the road. When I look at the movement of cars and people, the thought process is triggered and new ideas are born. I tried to work in an uncrowded place with a view of the forest – this is definitely not for me. ”

Oksana Ognevaya: “My day is intense, I do most of my tasks in the morning. It is better to do analytical work without office noise – early in the morning or late in the evening, and I hold working meetings from 11 to 16.I love it when the workplace is near the panoramic window. But I can work even in a tank – it is important that the work inspires. ”

How to rest – during breaks and after work

Anton Shulyk says to that you need to take breaks at work after each set, like in a gym. And Oksana Ognevaya uses the “principle of one hour”: “I catch the time, turn off all messengers, mail and work for an hour. Then I take a break for 10-15 minutes, answer everyone who wrote, and timed a new hour. “

Psychologist :

The optimal daily routine is the one where the person is physically and psychologically well. It is unlikely that now everyone is able to organize themselves such a regime. Instead of finding the optimal schedule formula, think about what is uncomfortable on your schedule and what you might be changing soon. If there are answers to these two questions, embark on a change.

How to work with creative employees, says Irina Timoshchenko, consultant in the field of people management and organizational development

On non-standard employee schedules

In the companies I work with, the percentage of employees with an individual schedule is at least 10.For media, IT, B2B services, this is quite common, not to mention startups. In highly intelligent businesses, the emphasis is not on graphics, but on results.

An individual schedule is either applicable to the position or not. Designers, programmers, analysts, planners, and other back office staff can be flexible. If it is convenient for a copywriter to work from 8 am to 5 pm – why not? But it is important to build processes and internal communication in the company so that all employees know when a specialist is in the office (for personal meetings and meetings).

Front office representatives, those who constantly communicate with clients, should have a tough schedule. But even Client-service specialists in the B2B segment can afford a specific work schedule, if it is agreed with the clients.

In companies where team members work in different time zones, it is impossible to ensure that they are present in the office at the same time. Then a small time interval is determined during the day (2-3 hours) when the employee should be in the office.

Regarding the treatment of candidates who ask for a non-standard schedule

Whether a person can work on a non-standard schedule depends on how such a schedule is related to his tasks. When at the interview he asks for a non-standard schedule, it means that he understands his capabilities and limitations.

If the employer provides the employee with a convenient schedule, provides the necessary processes and procedures for this, this is a unique employee experience for the company.Such experience speaks of loyalty, engagement, efficiency and other indicators of successful HR work.

How the effectiveness of employees in international companies is assessed

Thank you. It will be interesting!

About the productivity of creative employees

Productivity of creative employees is measured in much the same way as non-creative employees. Creativity in the context of the profession has clear boundaries.Any creative director will tell you how long it takes for his team to prepare a particular concept, a copywriter – to write a text, a programmer – to implement a product of a certain complexity.

There are goals that employees must achieve.

There are tasks that have an estimated time to complete.

There is a rough estimate – how many such tasks with a focus on the result can be done in a working day / week / month.

Because people in creative professions often perform unique tasks with a high degree of uncertainty and in the face of constant external changes, this is not a fixed time frame, but an assessment. CPM and Agile approaches to project activities help to make flexible and creative teams as effective as possible.