4 Steps to Set Your Internal Clock

The repetition of these four steps to set your internal clock should help you permanently change your internal clock, which, for example, is useful for the guy who is chronically late to work.

step 1 Plan to get a normal amount of sleep
The first step to set your internal clock is the most difficult: Prepare yourself so that you can get a normal amount of sleep, whether that’s 5, 6, 8 or even 10 hours. The reason is fairly obvious: This is shifting your ordinary sleep pattern by however many hours separate your typical wake-up time from this unusual time.

While this step isn’t crucial to set your internal clock for a different time, it is crucial for being alert and competent throughout the course of the day, especially if you’re doing this on a regular basis. Society chronically undervalues the importance of sleep; consider that prior to the invention of the light bulb, however, people routinely slept for 10 hours each night.

step 2 Block out all the light
Harvard researchers dub the circadian rhythm “the internal clock that drives the daily activities of all living things,” and it is housed among a set of nerve cells in the brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). Light and dark act on it as external cues. The key to set your internal clock comes down to manipulating this rhythm.

In this step, simulate your normal bedtime by blocking out any possible sources of light in an effort to kick-start that rhythm. Darkness -- rather the absence of light -- plays on the back of the eyes and stimulates the SCN to decrease your body temperature and encourage the release of melatonin, a hormone known to aide in sleep.

step 3 Embed the time into your brain
Embed into your brain the time you want to get up -- whether you do this through visualization (concentrating on a mental image of the clock telling the time you want to wake up), pounding your head into the pillow five times for a 5 a.m. wake-up call or any other manner. The point is, anticipating that time can help you get up at that time.

If you think this won't set your internal clock, think again. How often have you woken up just minutes before your alarm went off? This phenomenon isn’t coincidental. According to research from University Lubeck in Germany, the anticipation of a certain time triggers a release of stress hormones (like adrenocorticotropin), such that within an hour or so prior to really waking up, these secretions intensify, preparing you for the “stress” of actually doing so.

Furthermore, Cecil Adams at the Straight Dope notes that in almost all alarm clocks, there is “a faint click or some other change in rhythm a short time before the alarm goes off,” which you’re able to hear on a subconscious level.

step 4 Upon waking, immediately expose yourself to light
Just like the absence of light kicks the SCN to lower your body temperature and stimulate the release of melatonin, light itself stimulates the SCN to increase your body temperature and release a variety of hormones that turn protein into energy, gearing you up for the day ahead.

Thus, to further awaken yourself and condition your mind and body to wake up at a certain time, immediately expose yourself to a source of light once you get up. If sunlight is not available, turn on the lights in the bathroom.