YOUR MINI RESOLUTION SLEEP BETTER • WEEK 2

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​Happy Monday and welcome to week 2 of our first mini resolution for 2026: sleep better!
 
We hope you tried at least one tip last week and are feeling its positive effects! As a reminder, during this 7-week mini resolution, we’ll be reviewing tips tools and strategies to help improve your sleep, and we encourage you to try one of our curated sleep tips each week, and track the hours spent in bed each night.
 
Read on for more on the circadian rhythm: a powerful force driving our sleep.




CCP helps you stay on track!
 
Use our log to to track your progress toward our mini resolution. This month, we encourage you to try one sleep tip per week. Log which tip you selected and the result(s) you experienced.
 
For questions or assistance, email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele McCambridge:
 
[email protected]

The Circadian Rhythm: Our 24-Hour Cycle of Life

There are two primary drivers impacting alertness and sleepiness at the right times of day. One is Sleep Pressure (to be addressed next week) and the other is the Circadian Rhythm (CR), the body’s master biological clock.
 
The circadian rhythm is the 24-hour cycle that drives the physiology of being alive. It oversees sleep, behavior, hormone levels, body temperature, digestion and metabolism. It is typically generated internally but can be modulated by external cues, such as sunlight, feeding schedules and temperature. The brain’s hypothalamus is responsible for synchronizing the circadian rhythm.
 
Fun fact! Newborns do not have a circadian rhythm. It takes the first 2-3 months of life to entertain the circadian rhythm.
 
Interestingly, most of the body’s cells and tissues have their own CR, which can become dysregulated if the master clock is out of sync.
 
When aligned with external cues, the CR functions to ensure body functions occur at optimal times of day for peak health. But our well-being is affected when there is a temporary mismatch between our external environment and the master clock.

Evidence continues to link a misaligned CR with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). A misaligned CR contributes to AD pathology and AD further disrupts the CR. While not enough to cause the disease alone, as AD is multifactorial in nature, a misaligned CR contributes to the disease by driving neuro-inflammation, promoting gut dysbiosis and increasing oxidative stress.


A Primitive System in Modern Times

Sunlight is the primary regulatory driver of the CR. For modern humans, this circadian rhythm misalignment between lifestyle and rhythm is driven by our exposure to the wrong amounts and types of light, at the wrong times of day.
 
The circadian rhythm is one of our many primitive physiological systems that has not adapted to modern living. Cavepeople rose with the dawn and slept with the sunset. Their days were spent outside and any light exposure at night was fireside. It is specifically the exposure to the blue spectrum of bright daylight in the AM and midday that drives wakefulness through cortisol secretion, and the falling darkness that stimulates the release of melatonin—the sleep hormone.
 
Our bodies still require this type and timing of light exposure to function optimally. However, many of us now rise before the sun, spend most of our days indoors, and go to sleep long after the sun has set with long hours of exposure to blue light from our electronics throughout the day and well into the evening. This is a recipe for circadian rhythm disaster.
 
How can we balance modern living with our primitive physiology?
 
The best way to reset our circadian rhythm is a week of camping under the stars, but we realize this isn’t exactly practical for our purposes here. So instead, let’s focus on what we can control in our day-to-day lives, via light exposure.

Right Light at the Right Time

Expose yourself to daylight at least twice per day.
 
Start with exposure to first-day sun. It is ideal to nab a 10–15-minute walk outside once the sun is up. If you don’t have the time or if the weather isn’t conducive to outdoor activities, then try standing in front of a window and looking outdoors for a few minutes for a meaningful impact on the hypothalamus. Importantly, you should never look directly into the sun.
 
Light is measured in lux units. The approximate lux of the midday sun is 100,000 units and the lux of a typical office is 100 – 2,000 units—quite a difference! Walking outside for 10–15 minutes after lunch will not only trick the hypothalamus, but it will also have the added benefit of controlling post-prandial blood glucose and provide you with a mental health break. (This bio-hack is very powerful, and we will repeat it often throughout the year.)
If getting outside during peak blue daylight hours is not possible, light therapy is an option. Try Googling "Light Therapy Options," to research an indoor light that can simulate daylight.
 
Curious to know the lux units in your office or home? Google “Lux Meter App Free” and see what is suitable for your device.
 
 
Minimize your evening blue light exposure.
 
All exposure to light after the sun sets affects the hypothalamus and melatonin production (the sleep hormone), but it is the blue light of our electronics that is especially harmful. Sunlight has strong blue light in its spectrum and is strongest from early AM to midday, primitively intended to produce the greatest amount of wakefulness in humans for productivity and safety. Unfortunately, for the purpose of energy conservation, in 1992 our electronics switched from a green light spectrum to a blue light spectrum. Thus, we are kept alert however long we spend on our phones/devices, and melatonin release is delayed and diminished.

We understand eliminating our devices is not a practical solution, but there are options for minimizing the impact they have:

Adjust your device settings. Try Googling your specific device to see if you have factory settings installed that allow you to adjust the display spectrum from cool blues to warmer reds. If not, consider searching your app store “Blue Light Filters” for your specific device selections.
 
Try blue light glasses. Since blue light is virtually ubiquitous, even present in our TVs and in artificial lighting, it may be more effective to purchase a pair of blue light blocking glasses to wear after the sun sets.
 
Shut it down before bed. This third option is our favorite. Simply shut it all down an hour before bedtime and dim the lights, read instead of watching TV, and recharge your devices in another room.

Beyond controlling our light exposure, you may also consider these tips for realigning your circadium rhythm:


Eat only during daylight hours, also known as time restricted feeding (TRF). As previously mentioned, feeding schedules can also be an external cue to the CR. By limiting meals during daylight hours, we strengthen the alignment of the master clock and the CR in the cells and tissues of the GI.
 
Move more! An interesting study found that, statistically speaking, significant associations between declining cognitive function and misaligned CRs became insignificant when total physical activity in participants was accounted for!

That’s all for now! Don’t forget to check out our sleep tips and log your sleep each day. Visit our blog if you need to backtrack on past issues.
 
We’ll see you next week for a deep dive into increasing sleep pressure.