Your circadian rhythm, also known as your internal clock, helps to regulate important functions in your body, including your metabolism, blood pressure, blood glucose, and wake and sleep cycles. It does this by governing the timing of a number of biological events, such as body temperature, digestion, and hormone release.

There is a strong correlation between the health of your circadian rhythm and your overall health. The better job you do at keeping your circadian rhythm in check, the better overall health you’re likely to achieve and maintain.

Your circadian rhythm is easily impacted by your behaviors and external environment and can be disrupted by the lights in your home, when and how you sleep, your work schedule, what and when you eat, and time-zone changes, for example.

But, just as these events can negatively impact your circadian rhythm, proper management of your environment and the right behaviors can help you keep your circadian rhythm in check, and help you to achieve your health and performance goals.

Here are a few simple shifts you can make to your behaviors and environment to help you maintain a healthy circadian rhythm.

Get some sunlight upon waking

Natural light is critical for triggering your circadian rhythm’s wake cycle. Your location and time of waking will determine how long you will need to wait until the sun is available to you. But, no matter where or when you wake up, getting natural sunlight at your earliest opportunity needs to be a priority.

As soon as you can, open the blinds and a window, or get outside. Even ten minutes of early morning sunlight can help you feel more awake, set your metabolism up for the day, help you to be more focused and productive, and help you get better sleep later that night.

Exercise early in the day

Physical activity is another great way to promote wakefulness. Exercising early in the day, be it in the morning or early afternoon, advances your internal clock, and can make you more alert, improve concentration, and help you to be more focused.

On the flip side, exercising in the late afternoon or in the evening can disrupt your circadian rhythm and promote wakefulness in the night-time, making it harder to fall asleep and can reduce your chances of experiencing good quality deep sleep.

Avoid caffiene after 2pm

Coffee and other caffeinated beverages can affect your sleep, even 6-plus hours after consumption. And, since when and how you sleep is such an important factor in maintaining a good circadian rhythm (read on to learn more about how the quality of your sleep affects your circadian rhythm), drinking your caffeine earlier in the day is highly advisable.

In saying that, everyone is different. Some people can metabolise caffeine quickly, and others very slowly. If you rely on caffeine to keep you going, it’s worth experimenting with the timing of your consumption, to make sure you’re optimising for both productivity through the day, and sleep at night.

Keep a consistent sleep schedule

Your circadian rhythm works hard to regulate your wake and sleep cycles, and keeping an irregular sleep schedule can throw it out of whack. For example, if you stay up late at night, then get up early the next morning, then go to bed early the next night, and then sleep in the next morning, your body will struggle to know how to regulate the hormones that control your immune system, hunger, and stress, and this can lead to overeating, a lack of focus, and even anxiety and depression.

So, pick a regular sleep and wake time that’s sustainable at least 90% of the time, and try your best to stick to it. A good rule of thumb is to give yourself an 8-hour sleep window. So for example, if you’re planning on waking up at 5 am, you’ll need to hit the hay by 9 pm.

Don’t eat too late at night

To get a good night’s sleep, you’ll want to get in to a parasympathetic or ‘rest-and-digest’ state before your head hits the pillow. This state promotes relaxation and sleep by lowering your heart rate, slowing your respiratory rate (by tightening the bronchi in your lungs), and enacts digestive processes in the gut. If you continue to eat late into the night, your body will need to keep managing your consumption of food, and cannot fully embrace a parasympathetic state. This can lead to disturbed and less restful sleep, and affect your circadian rhythm’s sleep and wake cycles.

Turn your lights down low

In the same way that exposing yourself to morning light promotes wakefulness, reducing exposure to light in the evening promotes sleepfulness and helps to get your body into a parasympathetic state. Once you’ve had your dinner, turn off or turn down the lights in all areas of the house. Use low-wattage, warm or yellowish bulbs around the house if you can, and avoid looking at your phone, tablet, or laptop screen at least an hour before bedtime.

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