What is your biological clock?

Your biological clock regulates a lot in your body. It is like an internal timing mechanism in your body that regulates biological processes. Think of sleep-wake rhythm, hormone release and body temperature. The circadian clock - as the biorhythm is also called - lasts about 24 hours and is synchronized with the day-night cycle.

How does your biological clock affect sleep?

Regulation of sleep-wake rhythm

Your biological clock plays an important role in regulating your sleep-wake rhythm. It makes us feel sleepy at the end of the day and, conversely, awake and alert throughout the day. For example, the biological clock regulates the release of melatonin, the hormone that helps the body prepare for sleep. In the evening, your melatonin levels increase, giving you that sleepy feeling.

Quality of sleep

The biological clock also influences the quality of sleep. People naturally have different sleep times determined by their internal clock, known as chronotype. People with an evening type (night owls) tend to go to bed later and wake up later, while morning types (early risers) go to bed earlier and wake up earlier.

Disruption

Your biorhythms can be disrupted by night shifts or shifts where you have an irregular sleep rhythm, for example. The same goes for parties into the wee hours of the morning. Jet lag can also cause a lot of disturbance there, because you go to a different time zone you may notice yourself being sleepy during the day or having trouble falling asleep at night. In addition, artificial light also affects your biological clock. Your body tunes in to light and darkness whether it is time to go to sleep, if you look at screens for a long time in the evening you may find it harder to fall asleep because your melatonin has not yet been properly produced. Caffeine, stress and other health problems can also affect your biorhythms.

Biological clock support

The clock will be moved on March 31, 2024, at night at 02:00 the clock will go forward one hour. This also affects your biological clock and rhythm. You can support yourself with the following tips not only when the clock is changed, but especially throughout the year ;)

1. A regular sleep schedule, try to go to sleep around the same time every day and get up around the same time. Yep - even on weekends. This helps your body develop a consistent sleep-wake cycle and stabilize your own biological clock.
2. Natural light. Go outside as soon as you wake up and try to see as much natural light as possible during the day. This will help you stay more alert during the day.
3. Artificial light: In the evening, turn on the lights as little as possible and look at screens of laptops, TVs, phones or tablets as little as possible. This light can suppress the release of melatonin, which makes it harder to fall asleep
4. Evening routine: create a nice evening routine for yourself in which you get ready for bed. You can think about taking a shower, lighting candles, reading a book and meditating. As long as it is soothing it helps your body relax. It also helps to keep a similar routine so that you "recognize" the moment you are getting ready for bed and your body prepares for it.
5. Exercise: make sure you exercise enough during the day and keep moving, it can help you sleep better. Then also make sure you don't exercise intensely right before bed, the energy released then actually makes you feel more awake.