How to Defeat Jet Lag, Shift Work & Sleeplessness
Dr. Andrew Huberman discusses adjusting circadian rhythms for jet lag, shift work, and different age groups. He introduces the "temperature minimum" as a key anchor for shifting sleep-wake cycles using light, exercise, and food, and offers behavioral and supplemental tools for better sleep.
Deep Dive Analysis
15 Topic Outline
Introduction to Circadian Rhythms and Internal Clocks
Optimal Light Exposure for Setting Your Circadian Clock
Understanding and Mitigating Jet Lag's Effects
The Critical Role of Your Temperature Minimum
Using Light, Exercise, and Food to Shift Your Clock
Melatonin's Mechanism and Potential Hormonal Impacts
Strategies for Short Trips and Avoiding Jet Lag
Managing Circadian Rhythms for Shift Work
The Temperature-Light Rule for Circadian Adjustment
Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR) for Recovery and Calm
Biological Links Between Light, Skin, Dopamine, and Reproduction
Adjusting Sleep and Wake Rhythms in Babies and New Parents
Circadian Rhythms and Sleep for Adolescents and Teens
Sleep and Light Strategies for the Elderly
Supplements to Enhance Sleep Quality
10 Key Concepts
Circadian Rhythm
An endogenous, roughly 24-hour rhythm in various bodily functions, most prominently wakefulness and sleepiness, regulated by a clock in the brain (suprachiasmatic nucleus) and entrained by the external light-dark cycle.
Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN)
A group of neurons located above the roof of the mouth in the brain that acts as the master circadian clock, generating a 24-hour rhythm and entraining all other cells and tissues in the body.
Melanopsin Cells
Specialized neurons in the retina of the eye that absorb light and convert it into electrical signals, which are then sent to the suprachiasmatic nucleus to set the circadian clock.
Circadian Dead Zone
A period in the middle of the day (approximately 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. for a typical diurnal person) during which light exposure, feeding, or exercise will not shift the circadian clock.
Temperature Minimum
The lowest point of an individual's body temperature in every 24-hour cycle, typically occurring 90 minutes to two hours before their average waking time, serving as a critical reference point for shifting circadian rhythms.
Phase Advance
Shifting the circadian clock to an earlier time, making one want to wake up and go to sleep earlier, achieved by viewing bright light, exercising, or eating in the four hours after the temperature minimum.
Phase Delay
Shifting the circadian clock to a later time, making one want to wake up and go to sleep later, achieved by viewing bright light, exercising, or eating in the four to six hours before the temperature minimum.
Polyphasic Sleep
A sleep pattern involving multiple short sleep periods spread throughout the 24-hour cycle, rather than one continuous block, which can potentially reduce the total amount of sleep needed.
Ultradian Rhythms
Biological cycles that are shorter than 24 hours, such as the approximately 90-minute cycles of body temperature and hormonal features observed in babies and during sleep stages.
Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR)
Protocols like yoga nidra or hypnosis that involve lying still with an active mind, shown to restore cognitive and physical energy and help the nervous system calm down, even without actual sleep.
10 Questions Answered
You should aim to get at least 100,000 lux of light exposure into your eyes before 9-10 a.m. to set your circadian clock, and then view sunlight around sunset to adjust down retinal sensitivity, while avoiding bright light between 10-11 p.m. and 4 a.m.
Jet lag can shorten lifespan and is associated with negative effects on mental and physical health, including mood fluctuations, amnesia, and increased risk of depression and dementia.
Traveling eastward is harder because it requires going to sleep earlier, which is more difficult for the human autonomic nervous system to achieve on demand compared to staying awake later, which is required for westward travel.
Your temperature minimum is the lowest point of your body temperature in a 24-hour cycle, typically occurring 90 minutes to two hours before your average waking time; you can estimate it by averaging your wake-up times over three to five days.
Viewing bright light, exercising, or eating in the four hours after your temperature minimum will advance your clock (earlier sleep/wake), while doing so in the four to six hours before your temperature minimum will delay your clock (later sleep/wake).
Melatonin is a hormone that can inhibit gonadotropin-releasing hormone, luteinizing hormone, testosterone, and estrogen, and commercial supplements often contain supraphysiological levels that could potentially affect hormone systems, especially in developing children.
If possible, maintain the same shift schedule for at least 14 days, including weekends, to avoid severe disruption to cortisol rhythms and overall health.
New parents should prioritize getting morning and evening sunlight to anchor their own circadian clock, utilize non-sleep deep rest (NSDR) protocols for recovery when sleep isn't possible, and try to get sleep in 90-minute ultradian cycles whenever the baby sleeps.
Prioritize allowing teens sufficient sleep duration, even if it means sleeping later, and consider exposing them to bright light in their room before they wake up to help them sleep longer and go to sleep earlier the following night.
Magnesium threonate or glycinate (300-400mg) can increase sleep depth and reduce sleep onset time, and L-theanine (100-300mg) can calm the mind and make it easier to fall asleep, though L-theanine should be avoided by sleepwalkers or those with night terrors.
31 Actionable Insights
1. Determine Your Temperature Minimum
Calculate your temperature minimum by averaging your wake-up times over 3-7 days and subtracting 90 minutes to 2 hours. This point is your absolute reference for shifting your circadian clock, as it’s the lowest point in your 24-hour temperature cycle.
2. Morning Light Exposure
Get at least 100,000 lux of light exposure to your eyes before 9-10 AM (assuming a 5-8 AM wake-up) to optimally trigger neurons that set your circadian clock, which is paramount for mental and physical health. Go outside, even on cloudy days, as artificial indoor lights are often insufficient.
3. Advance Your Circadian Clock
To shift your clock to wake up and go to sleep earlier (phase advance), expose your eyes to bright light, engage in exercise, and/or eat a meal in the four hours after your temperature minimum. This powerful mechanism can shift your clock by 1-3 hours per day.
4. Delay Your Circadian Clock
To shift your clock to wake up and go to sleep later (phase delay), view bright light, engage in exercise, and/or eat a meal in the four to six hours before your temperature minimum. This powerful mechanism can shift your clock by 1-3 hours per day.
5. Avoid Bright Light at Night
As much as safely possible, avoid bright light (and even not-so-bright light) between 10-11 PM and 4 AM, as very little photon energy during these hours can significantly reset and shift your circadian clock.
6. Consistent Exercise and Eating
Engage in exercise and eat meals at more or less the same time each day to reinforce and stabilize your circadian clock, contributing to overall mental and physical health.
7. Use Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR)
Utilize NSDR protocols, such as hypnosis or Yoga Nidra, to teach your brain and nervous system how to calm down, turn off thoughts, and facilitate sleep, or to recover cognitive and physical energy during the day. Practice them whenever you have an opportunity to improve autonomic regulation.
8. Evening Light for Eye Sensitivity
Look at sunlight around the time the sun is setting to adjust down the sensitivity of your eyes. This provides a buffer, allowing you more leeway to view artificial lights from screens or overhead lights later at night without significantly disrupting your circadian clock.
9. Shift Work: Maintain Consistency
If you are a shift worker, strive to maintain the same work and sleep schedule for at least 14 days, including weekends. This is immensely beneficial for offsetting detrimental health effects like cortisol spikes and disrupted dopamine.
10. Shift Work: Align Light Exposure
As a shift worker, view as much light as safely possible during your desired awake phase and as little light as safely possible during your desired sleep phase. Use your internal temperature rhythm (increasing temperature = get light, decreasing temperature = avoid light) as a guide.
11. Travel: Eat on Local Schedule
When traveling, eat on the local meal schedule to help your peripheral body clocks, such as those in the liver, adapt to the new time zone. Avoid maintaining your home meal schedule, as this can send conflicting signals to your brain.
12. Travel: Avoid Napping (Westward)
When traveling westward and aiming to stay up later, avoid taking long naps. If you must nap, keep it short (e.g., 20-60 minutes) to prevent waking up unable to fall back asleep later on the local schedule.
13. Travel: Use Stimulants (Westward)
When traveling westward, use non-excessive amounts of stimulants like caffeine (in coffee or tea) to help push past afternoon sleepiness and stay awake until the local bedtime.
14. Short Trips: Stay on Home Schedule
For trips lasting 48 hours or less (or ideally three days or less), try to stay on your home schedule as much as possible. Your clock is unlikely to shift significantly in this short period, making it easier to readjust upon return.
15. Travel with Light/Dark Devices
When traveling, use portable bright light devices (like light pads) to get light exposure when you want to be awake, and nightshades (eye covers) to block light when you want to sleep. This helps you maintain your home schedule and avoid clock disruption.
16. Parenting: Polyphasic Sleep
If caring for a baby with a fractured sleep schedule, try to get sleep in 45-minute increments or batches, aligning with ultradian cycles, even if spread throughout the day. This can reduce the total amount of sleep needed and help maintain well-being.
17. Parenting: Anchor Your Circadian Clock
Parents on a baby’s fractured sleep schedule should prioritize getting morning and evening sunlight (or artificial light if natural light is unavailable) in their eyes. This helps anchor their own disrupted circadian clock, which is crucial when sleep patterns are chaotic.
18. Baby Temperature Regulation
For babies, maintain the room slightly colder when you want them to be asleep and slightly warmer when you want them to be awake. Always be very careful to avoid all temperature extremes, cold or hot.
19. Baby Light Exposure Caution
Avoid exposing young babies to extremely bright sunlight or artificial light, as their eyes are very sensitive and their optics are not fully developed, making them more susceptible to discomfort and potential harm.
20. Teen Sleep Duration Priority
Prioritize the total duration of sleep for adolescents and teens, as they are undergoing the fastest rate of aging (puberty) and have a naturally later-shifted circadian rhythm requiring extended sleep.
21. Teen Morning Light for Sleep
Turn on lights in a teen’s room before they naturally wake up (if they are not hiding under covers) to help them get more sleep the subsequent night and increase total sleep time by about 45 minutes. This works by advancing their later temperature minimum.
22. Elderly: Maximize Natural Light
Elderly individuals should get as much natural light as safely possible (even through open windows if getting outside is difficult) early in the day, and avoid artificial lights during the night phase. This has a tremendous effect on regulating sleep and circadian schedules.
23. Elderly: Melatonin Consideration
For elderly individuals struggling with sleep, melatonin might be of greatest benefit due to chaotic natural melatonin patterns and less concern for reproductive hormone effects; however, always consult a physician before use.
24. Magnesium for Deeper Sleep
Consider taking magnesium (threonate or glycinate forms) 30-60 minutes before bedtime to increase the depth of sleep and decrease the time it takes to fall asleep, as it engages the GABA pathway. Consult your doctor and check examine.com for more information.
25. Theanine for Calming Sleep
Consider taking L-theanine (100-300 mg) 30-60 minutes before bedtime for a calming effect, as it activates GABA pathways and reduces top-down thinking, making it easier to fall asleep. Avoid if you experience sleepwalking or night terrors. Consult your doctor and check examine.com.
26. Apigenin for Sleepiness
Consider apigenin (a derivative of chamomile) for a hypnotic effect, as it activates chloride channels and increases GABA in the brain, inducing sleepiness. Be aware of potential anti-estrogenic effects. Consult your doctor and check examine.com.
27. Research Supplements with Examine.com
Use examine.com as a reliable resource to research any supplement you are considering, as it links to quality peer-reviewed studies, safety warnings, and information on study subjects and dosages.
28. Prioritize Behavioral Protocols
Always prioritize behavioral protocols (such as NSDR, light exposure, exercise, and temperature regulation) for improving sleep before resorting to supplements. These behavioral changes typically have higher safety margins and allow for direct control.
29. Avoid Sleep Anxiety
Do not become neurotically attached to a specific sleep schedule, as this can lead to sleep anxiety, which paradoxically makes it harder to fall asleep and stay asleep. Biological systems are often more forgiving than sometimes described.
30. Protect Your Eyes from Bright Light
Never look at very bright lights that cause pain or make you blink or close your eyes, as this indicates a level of brightness that could potentially damage your central nervous system (eyes), which cannot regenerate.
31. Supplement Vitamin D3 and K2
Consider supplementing with Vitamin D3 and K2, as D3 is essential for various aspects of brain and body health (many are deficient even with sunshine) and K2 is important for cardiovascular function and calcium regulation.
6 Key Quotes
There's no escaping the fact that human beings are a diurnal species. We were designed, literally, our cells and the circuits of our body were constructed to be awake during the daytime and asleep at night.
Andrew Huberman
Your temperature minimum is your absolute reference point for shifting your circadian clock, whether or not it's for jet lag or shift work or some other purpose.
Andrew Huberman
When you understand mechanism, it's not about being neurotically attached to a specific protocol. It's the opposite. It gives you power to not be neurotically attached to a specific protocol.
Andrew Huberman
If your temperature is decreasing, avoid light. If your temperature is increasing, get light. It's that simple.
Andrew Huberman
The fastest rate of aging that any of us will ever undergo is puberty.
Andrew Huberman
I loathe the term biohacking. Sorry, biohackers. I don't believe in hacking anything. I believe in understanding mechanism and applying the principles of mechanism...
Andrew Huberman
5 Protocols
Jet Lag Adjustment (Eastward Travel)
Andrew Huberman- Determine your average temperature minimum (90 minutes to 2 hours before your average wake-up time).
- Two to three days before travel, start waking up earlier (e.g., 5:30 a.m.) and immediately expose your eyes to bright artificial light (as sunlight won't be available) and potentially exercise or eat a meal.
- Upon arrival at the new location, continue to track your home temperature minimum and apply light, exercise, and food strategies based on whether you want to advance or delay your clock, aiming for a 1-3 hour shift per day.
- Eat on the local meal schedule to help peripheral clocks adjust.
- Avoid napping for longer than intended, as this can further disrupt rhythms.
- For trips 48 hours or less, try to stay on your home schedule as much as possible.
Jet Lag Adjustment (Westward Travel)
Andrew Huberman- Determine your average temperature minimum.
- Upon arrival, use caffeine, exercise, and bright light exposure (artificial or natural, if after your temperature peak) in the afternoon/evening to help you stay awake later and delay your clock.
- Eat on the local meal schedule.
- Avoid long naps that could lead to waking up at midnight and being unable to fall back asleep.
Shift Work Schedule Management
Andrew Huberman- If possible, negotiate with your employer to maintain the same shift schedule for at least 14 days, including weekends.
- During your 'awake' phase (shift), view as much bright light as safely possible.
- During your 'sleep' phase (after shift), avoid bright light exposure as much as safely possible (e.g., use dim lights, blue blockers if desired, or make your home dark).
- Follow the 'Temperature-Light Rule': if your internal body temperature is decreasing, avoid light; if it's increasing, get light.
Teen Sleep Improvement Protocol
Andrew Huberman, referencing Dr. Jamie Zeitzer's research- Turn on lights in the teen's room before they naturally wake up (their eyes don't have to be open).
- This light exposure, occurring around or just after their temperature minimum, will encourage them to go to sleep earlier the subsequent night and increase total sleep time by about 45 minutes.
General Sleep Supplementation Protocol (for those struggling after behavioral optimization)
Andrew Huberman- Take 300-400 milligrams of Magnesium Threonate or Glycinate 30-60 minutes before bedtime to increase sleep depth and reduce sleep onset time.
- Take 100-300 milligrams of L-Theanine 30-60 minutes before bedtime to activate GABA pathways, calming the mind and making it easier to fall asleep (avoid if prone to sleepwalking or night terrors due to vivid dreams).
- Consider Apigenin, a derivative of chamomile, which acts as a mild hypnotic by activating chloride channels and increasing GABA in the brain (be aware of potential anti-estrogenic effects).