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Living Well: Social Jetlag

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Got Social Jetlag? Here’s How to Get Back on Track

You may not have heard of social jetlag, but you have probably experienced it. One team of researchers defines it as, “the discrepancy between biological time, determined by our internal body clock, and social times, mainly dictated by social obligations such as school or work.”

In other words, if the demands of work, school, or the social calendar have ever found you dragging yourself out of bed before you would naturally wake up – or pushing yourself to stay awake after your body wants to sleep – you have felt the effects of social jetlag.

And aside from the immediate, obvious impacts like sluggishness and mental fog, it can have long term negative effects as well; an increase in depression and anxiety, weight gain, chronic illness, and decreased mental performance, to name a few. In fact, Till Roennenberg – the Munich professor who coined the term social jetlag – has even said that “social jetlag promotes practically everything that’s bad in our bodies.”

Since sleep preference (night owl or early bird) is largely determined by our genetics, we’ll need to change our sleep habits in order to counter these impacts. Ideally, we would all keep a consistent sleep schedule that includes waking up and going to sleep at the same time every day and getting at least 7-9 hours of sleep every night. But that’s not always attainable, is it?

Fortunately, there are simpler tweaks that have been shown to help. Here are a couple you might try this month:

  • Try adding 30 minutes to your sleep time. You might go to bed earlier, wake up later, or split the difference by adding 15 minutes on each end. If you can make this happen, you’ll get an extra 3.5 hours of sleep each week, which will go a long way toward mending a sleep deficit. Going to bed earlier will have the best impact on circadian rhythms, but any change helps – so do whatever works with your lifestyle.
  • Mimic the natural light patterns of the day-night cycle. Studies have shown when people go camping, minimizing their exposure to artificial light, they fall asleep earlier and wake earlier. The day-night cycle naturally resets their internal clocks. How to mimic this? When it’s time to be awake, get as much sunlight as possible (especially early in the day). Use as little artificial light as possible in the evenings, and if you use electronics make sure to use blue light filters. When it’s time for sleep, aim for a completely dark environment, or as close as you can get.