Sleep Program Main PageSome people have trouble with going to bed and getting to sleep at a “normal” time (average is around 10 or 11pm). This could be due to shift work or other alternative schedule requirements (see sleeping with shift work for ideas). It could also be due to your body’s “time clock” having been set at a different time. Sometimes this is caused by travel across time zones, sometimes not. If you have trouble getting yourself to go to bed try this method to see if it’s your body clock that needs resetting.
How to tell if your body is out of phase:
Take your temperature upon rising and every 4 hours that you are awake after that. Take your temperature at exactly the same times for one week and keep a careful log. At the end of the week average the information to show a "typical" day. Find the time that appears to contain the peak (highest) temperature for the day.
For the next week take your temperature once an hour during the 4 hours around that high-temperature time. (So, if your high temperature time was 4pm then take your temperature at 2 pm, 3 pm, 4 pm, 5 pm and 6 pm.) Then average it to show the "typical" pattern during that portion of a day. Your low-temperature time should be 12 hours from the highest temperature time that you have recorded.
Your body sleeps best when the temperature is at it's lowest. This ideally is halfway through your total sleep time or 4 hours into the night for a normal 8 hour sleep. If your low-temperature time is not in the middle of your sleep period, you can see why you're having trouble sleeping and would then need to reset your body-clock.
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