Your Body’s Daily Clock: The Circadian Rhythm, Explained

Key Takeaways:

• Your body runs on an internal clock called a circadian rhythm that influences when you feel awake and sleepy.
• Understanding what affects your circadian rhythm can help promote your physical and mental health, along with promoting better sleep.
• Hatch Restore can help you take better care of yourself by creating routines that support your circadian rhythm.

Your body runs on a rhythm, even when your schedule doesn’t. From when you wake up to when you start to feel sleepy at night, a built-in timing system is quietly guiding your energy, focus, and rest. When that rhythm is supported, sleep usually comes more easily. When it’s thrown off, everything can feel a little harder. 

Luckily, supporting your circadian rhythm doesn’t require perfection or a rigid routine. Small, consistent cues, especially with light, timing, and wind-down habits, can help your body stay aligned and make sleep feel more natural over time. Below, your circadian rhythm, explained — and how you can keep yours balanced and healthy with Hatch Restore.

Table of Contents

1. How Your Circadian Rhythm Works
2. How to Support Your Circadian Rhythm
3. FAQs
4. References 

How Your Circadian Rhythm Works

Your circadian rhythm is a bodily cycle that’s responsible for many physiological functions, such as your energy levels, metabolism, appetite, and body temperature. It’s also responsible for prompting the release of hormones that make you feel awake and alert or sleepy and ready for bed. But all this circadian magic doesn’t happen on its own. 

To align with the 24-hour day, your internal clock needs outside stimuli, the most important of which is light. Morning light exposure signals to your brain and body that it’s daytime, promoting the release of cortisol, an energizing hormone. As light dwindles at night, your body gets the cue that it’s almost time to sleep, so it starts releasing the sleepy hormone melatonin. 

Our modern lives and schedules can conflict with what the circadian rhythm needs to regulate. For example, many of us stay indoors most of the day — and less light exposure provides a weaker “it’s daytime” signal to your brain. On the flipside, too much light exposure at night (whether from your phone or bright lights in your home) can trick your body into thinking it’s daytime, interfering with the release of melatonin. 

How to Support Your Circadian Rhythm  

Active steps to support your circadian rhythm can help keep your internal clock aligned with the 24-hour day, so sleep feels more natural (and you feel more energized to tackle whatever your day has in store). The following science-backed tips are a great place to start. 

Get Consistent Daytime Light Exposure

Morning light exposure is the strongest signal for setting circadian timing, like a reset button for your body clock. Movement and outdoor time amplify the circadian effect of light exposure, so when you can, try to go outside for a short walk first thing in the morning. Can’t go outside? Blue light is especially energizing — it’s one of the closest wavelengths to natural sunlight — so try waking up to Hatch’s Blue Light Morning Alarm.

Reduce Light at Night

Reducing light exposure as the day goes on signals to your body that it’s time to start releasing melatonin. Try creating an evening routine that minimizes light exposure. For example, every day after work, you could turn off the harsh big lights and use softer lamps instead.

Reducing evening phone use can also help support melatonin production (and prevent doomscrolling that keeps your mind active when it’s time to sleep). In bed, help your body and mind unwind with calming, warm red or orange light and a cozy podcast or sound bath on your Hatch Restore. 

Use Consistent Wind-Down Cues

Outside of light, your circadian rhythm needs predictability. That’s why a sleep routine is so important: It’s like a consistent cue to your nervous system that it’s time to start switching gears from “go mode” to sleep mode. 

Every night, incorporate a few bedtime activities into your schedule, and try doing them in the same order. Whether you journal and stretch or read and then listen to a meditation on your Hatch Restore, choose activities that help soothe your nervous system before bed.

Prioritize Regular Sleep and Wake Times

Consistency isn’t just how you go to bed, but when you go to bed (and when you wake up). Winding down and going to sleep at around the same time each night — yep, even on the weekends — creates a predictable message for your circadian rhythm. The same is true for when you wake up in the morning.

Regular timing helps your body anticipate sleep and alertness, making it easier to fall asleep at night and feel more rested during the day. If your schedule shifts occasionally, aim to keep changes within a one-hour window to support rhythm stability without stressing about perfection.

Learn how Hatch Restore can help you take care of your circadian rhythm — and yourself.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is circadian rhythm the same as a sleep schedule?

Not exactly. A sleep schedule is a habit, while your circadian rhythm is a biological process. Your schedule can either support or work against your circadian rhythm depending on how consistent it is.

Can your circadian rhythm change over time?

Yes. Circadian rhythms can shift with age, lifestyle changes, work schedules, and seasonal light exposure. That’s why routines that worked at one stage of life may need adjusting later on.

What happens when your circadian rhythm is off?

When your circadian rhythm is disrupted, you may feel tired at the wrong times, have trouble falling asleep, or experience changes in mood or focus. Supporting consistent cues can help realign it over time.

References

1. Roenneberg, T., Wirz-Justice, A., & Merrow, M. (2003). Life between clocks: Daily temporal patterns of human chronotypes. Journal of Biological Rhythms, 18(1), 80–90. https://doi.org/10.1177/0748730402239679
2. He, J. W., Tu, Z. H., Xiao, L., Su, T., & Tang, Y. X. (2020). Effect of restricting bedtime mobile phone use on sleep, arousal, mood, and working memory: A randomized pilot trial. PloS one, 15(2), e0228756. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0228756