Reset your bodyclock in a day [body hacks]

mrk · 4 Aug 2009 at 11:01

How to Naturally Reset Your Sleep Cycle In One Night

25 comments

Posted July 31, 2009 - 09:00 by Will Chen

Filed Under: Health and Beauty

Photo: Aaron Jacobs

Not eating for 12-16 hours can help people quickly reset their sleep-wake cycle, according to a study from the Harvard Medical School. This discovery can drastically improve a person's ability to cope with jet lag or adjust to working late shifts.

Scientists have long known that our circadian rhythm is regulated by our exposure to light. Now they have found a second "food clock" that takes over when we are hungry. This mechanism probably evolved to make sure starving mammals don't go to sleep when they should be foraging for food.

The lead researcher Clifford Saper explains:

The neat thing about this second clock is that it can override the main clock ... and you should just flip into that new time zone in one day.

It usually takes people a week to fully adjust to a new time zone or sleeping schedule. To think that this new "food clock" hack can help you change your internal clock in one day is mind boggling.
How Do You Use This Trick?

Simply stop eating during the 12-16 hour period before you want to be awake. Once you start eating again, your internal clock will be reset as though it is the start of a new day. Your body will consider the time you break your fast as your new "morning."

For example, if you want to start waking up at 2:00 am, you should start fasting between 10:00 am or 2:00 pm the previous day, and don't break your fast until you wake up at 2:00 am. Make sure you eat a nice healthy meal to jumpstart your system.

Another example: If you are travelling from Los Angeles to Tokyo, figure out when breakfast is served in Tokyo, and don't eat for the 12-16 hours before Tokyo's breakfast time.

Video with additional info: http://www.wisebread.com/how-to-naturally-reset-your-sleep-cycle-overnight

Interesting stuff this as I quite often pull an all nighter only to wish I had not due to the feeling of wanting to sleep during the day

ryujinjakka · 4 Aug 2009 at 11:05

very handy info since my work pattern sucks, days 1 week an nights the next, am always playing catch up with my sleeping pattern lol

krooton · 4 Aug 2009 at 11:13

Not eating for 12-16 hours would leave me with a really painful stomach though, as I am a grazer.

Tom|Nbk · 4 Aug 2009 at 11:14

mrk said:
Interesting stuff this as I quite often pull an all nighter only to wish I had not due to the feeling of wanting to sleep during the day

Yea, you're always on msn at daft o'clock lol.

me227 · 4 Aug 2009 at 11:15

Don't eat for 16 hours! :eek:

I'd rather have a messed up body clock and deal with it.

mrk · 4 Aug 2009 at 11:15

I've done this before and the feeling of a fresh new bodyclock is absolutely worth not eating for 16hrs. You feel "alive" and completely active and alert unlike not doing it and feeling hazy, and slumpy"

Tom|Nbk said:
Yea, you're always on msn at daft o'clock lol.

I'm on MSN 24 hours a day because my PC never turns off ever so I leave everything paused or whatever regardless of me being at the PC or not :cool:

One of the benefits of a near silent PC and low energy consumption!

Vulcan · 4 Aug 2009 at 11:18

krooton said:
Not eating for 12-16 hours would leave me with a really painful stomach though, as I am a grazer.

Ditto, I can't sleep on an empty stomach.

Dinomania · 4 Aug 2009 at 11:19

16 hours ain't so bad - it's like having an early tea at 5pm, then sleeping, then getting up and having breakfast at 10am. If you can get yourself to sleep in the fasting period, you're laughing

I wonder if it's cheating having a big meal before the clock-reset fast? That'd help you drop off, too...

...the only thing is, doing such a fast would probably mean missing out on free in-flight food, which would seem like a waste!

mrk · 4 Aug 2009 at 11:20

But you'd enjoy your post-reset meal even more afterward

krooton · 4 Aug 2009 at 11:36

sara said:
16 hours ain't so bad - it's like having an early tea at 5pm, then sleeping, then getting up and having breakfast at 10am. If you can get yourself to sleep in the fasting period, you're laughing

My evening meal happens between 8-10pm, sleep from midnight to 7:30 weekdays, and I am starving when I wake up. If I don't eat a breakfast bar before leaving the house, the journey to work is pretty uncomfortable.

Abraham · 4 Aug 2009 at 11:55

krooton said:
My evening meal happens between 8-10pm, sleep from midnight to 7:30 weekdays, and I am starving when I wake up. If I don't eat a breakfast bar before leaving the house, the journey to work is pretty uncomfortable.

have you tried drinking something instead?

platypus · 4 Aug 2009 at 11:58

I can't not eat for 2 hours, let alone 16.

Dark_Angel · 4 Aug 2009 at 12:01

platypus said:
I can't not eat for 2 hours, let alone 16.

O.o

point decay · 4 Aug 2009 at 12:02

might try that before i go on holiday..

Cosimo · 4 Aug 2009 at 12:11

I enjoy my food too much so the body clock reset isn’t going to happen.

meghatronic · 4 Aug 2009 at 12:16

This is an old wives tale. Well at least my mother told me about it ages ago.

mame · 4 Aug 2009 at 12:27

If only you could just clear the CMOS

Ice Rich · 4 Aug 2009 at 12:29

mame said:
If only you could just clear the CMOS

Better yet would be to load profiles.

krooton · 4 Aug 2009 at 12:43

Abraham said:
have you tried drinking something instead?

Liquid does little other than dilute my stomach acids, and not enough to prevent hunger pangs.

My body is too used to eating little and often.

dun · 4 Aug 2009 at 12:45

When I first wake up I need to drink a pint of water to even start thinking, followed by a good breakfast within half an hour or I start feeling sick as a dog. I think I'll give this a miss.