How to reset your sleep schedule, step by step

Your sleep schedule is run by your circadian rhythm, a roughly 24-hour cycle set by a master clock in the brain. The NIH’s National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) says light and dark have the biggest influence on it: as light fades in the evening, that clock tells the brain to make more melatonin, the hormone that makes you sleepy.

The NHLBI describes a second process working alongside the clock: a pressure to sleep that builds with every hour you’re awake. When the two line up, you get sleepy at a steady time. They drift apart when you:

Sleep hygiene means the habits and surroundings that help you sleep well. The NHLBI recommends a quiet, cool and dark bedroom, and staying active during the day while skipping intense exercise in the hour before bed. The CDC adds avoiding large meals right before bedtime.

In Puerto Rico, the usual challenge is warm, humid nights. What helps:

Puerto Rico is on Atlantic Standard Time and, according to NIST, does not observe daylight saving time. So while the US East Coast is on daylight saving time, Puerto Rico shows the same clock time; the rest of the year, Puerto Rico is one hour ahead. From the West Coast the gap is 3 or 4 hours, and from Europe it is several hours.

The CDC Yellow Book explains that jet lag comes from crossing at least two time zones, and that travelling east is harder than travelling west: the body adjusts by about 1 hour a day after eastward travel and about 1.5 hours a day after westward travel. Flying to the island from the western US is eastward travel.

The NIH’s National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) says melatonin supplements may help with jet lag, based on a small number of studies of eastward and westward flights, and that short-term use appears safe for most people. It also warns that some products don’t contain what the label says: in the US melatonin is sold as a dietary supplement, and the CDC Yellow Book notes that the FDA does not regulate its dose.

Talk to your doctor before using it if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, take blood thinners, have epilepsy, or are thinking of giving it to a child. Melatonin doesn’t replace the plan above: light, a fixed wake time and gradual shifts do most of the work.

If screens are costing you sleep, our guide to a digital detox retreat has ideas for a phone break before bed, and what to expect at a retreat explains what a retreat stay looks like.

If you work shifts, the NHLBI suggests limiting shift changes so your body clock can adjust, keeping lights bright at work, having caffeine only early in your shift, and blocking light and noise when you sleep during the day. Naps help too. If you still can’t get enough sleep, talk with your doctor.

If you have a baby or young children, a perfect schedule isn’t realistic for a while. Protect what you can: a wake time that is as steady as possible, morning light, short naps when the baby sleeps, and taking night shifts with a partner or family member if you can.

If you stay tired even when you sleep enough, read about fatigue. And if work exhaustion is what pushed your sleep off track, see our guide to burnout and time away.