How to Reset Your Body Clock for Better Sleep With Bipolar Disorder

From morning light cues to bedtime boundaries, learn expert-backed ways to realign your internal clock and protect your sleep.

In people with bipolar disorder, the brain and body systems that govern sleep tend to be especially prone to disruption. 

Even relatively small changes in when you sleep and wake — such as daylight saving time, travel, sleeping late, or an inconsistent schedule — can interfere with your circadian rhythm, the internal timing system that helps regulate your sleep-wake cycle. Disrupted sleep and circadian timing can also contribute to mood instability.

“Resetting your body clock” doesn’t mean forcing sleep, staying awake all night, or skipping needed rest. Instead, the goal is to gradually bring your sleep-wake schedule and daily routines back into alignment with your body’s natural circadian timing.

Here’s what sleep experts suggest to help reset your body clock and support a more consistent sleep-wake schedule.

1. Keep a Consistent Wake-Up Routine

To keep your body systems running smoothly, it’s extremely important to follow a routine. Choose a realistic wake-up time and keep it as consistent as possible every day, including weekends and days off. Then aim for a bedtime that gives you enough opportunity for sleep.

“Sleeping at the right times is just as important as the number of hours of sleep,” says Lulu Guo, MD, a sleep medicine physician in Bellevue, Washington.

If your usual schedule has drifted later, shift it gradually rather than making a drastic change. Move your wake-up time and bedtime earlier by about 20 to 30 minutes at a time, then hold that schedule long enough for it to feel manageable.

2. Use Natural Light to Reinforce Your Body Clock

Light is one of the strongest signals the brain uses to determine when to be awake and when to prepare for sleep. After getting up, open the curtains or spend some time outside in natural morning light.

As evening approaches, begin lowering the lights and transitioning away from bright, stimulating surroundings. Keeping these light cues relatively consistent can help reinforce the sleep and wake times you’re trying to establish.

3. Create a Predictable Evening Wind-Down Period

Preparing for a good night’s rest starts earlier than you might expect. Try to begin winding down at about the same time each evening, ideally 30 to 60 minutes before bed. Dim the lights and choose a calming activity, such as reading, listening to relaxing music, taking a bath, or meditating.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests developing a calming pre-bed routine, such as reading a book, listening to soothing music, or taking a warm bath, to help promote better sleep.

The specific activity matters less than giving the body a consistent signal that the active part of the day is ending.

4. Reduce Evening Screen Stimulation

According to research, bright screens and stimulating online activity can make it harder for your body to recognize that bedtime is approaching. About an hour before your intended bedtime, put away phones, tablets, and laptops when possible — or use settings that reduce brightness and blue light if you need to use a device.

Avoid using your bed for scrolling, messaging, work, or other activities that keep your mind alert. Listening to calming audio may be less disruptive than interactive activities such as social media, gaming, or responding to messages.

5. Take the Focus Off the Clock

Checking the time repeatedly can make a difficult night feel more stressful and pull your attention away from winding down. Turn the clock face away, and keep your phone out of reach if it doubles as your clock.

If you cannot fall asleep and begin to feel frustrated, get out of bed and do a quiet, low-stimulation activity until you feel sleepy again. Then return to bed. Cleveland Clinic recommends avoiding clock-checking and taking a break from bed when you’re awake and frustrated.

6. Plan Ahead for Circadian Disruptions

Daylight saving time, travel across time zones, sleeping much later on weekends, changes in work or household schedules, and daytime naps can all shift when your body expects to sleep and wake.

If you need a nap, keeping it brief and earlier in the day can help reduce the chance that it will push your bedtime later. Mayo Clinic recommends keeping naps to about 20 to 30 minutes and avoiding late-day naps.

When a schedule change is coming, adjusting gradually when possible can help. Afterward, returning to your usual wake time, bedtime, morning light exposure, and daily routine can help your internal clock settle back into its familiar pattern.

7. Get Out of Bed When Your Alarm Goes Off

When it’s time to get up in the morning, don’t hit the snooze button. Get up, open the curtains, make the bed, go outside, or talk to a friend.

Getting out of bed at your planned wake time helps reinforce the morning side of your sleep-wake schedule. Pairing that wake time with light and some activity gives the body an even clearer signal that the day has begun.

8. Adjust the Timing of Your Daily Habits

Certain activities and habits can send signals that interfere with sleep timing. For example, if evening exercise leaves you feeling energized, consider moving it earlier in the day. If you can’t change the timing, try a gentler evening activity, such as a yoga routine, that better fits your intended wind-down period.

Caffeine timing can matter, too. Because caffeine is a stimulant, having it later in the day may make it harder for the body to transition toward sleep at its usual time.

A perfectly regimented schedule isn’t necessary, but repeating important activities at roughly similar times each day can give the body clock more consistent cues about when to be awake and when to wind down.

9. Track Your Sleep-Wake Pattern

For one or two weeks, write down when you go to bed, when you wake up, naps, caffeine or alcohol timing, exercise, medication timing, and major schedule changes. You might also note how rested you feel and whether you notice changes in your energy or mood.

The goal is not to create a perfect record or judge yourself for an off night. It’s to notice patterns — for example, whether late caffeine, a long nap, sleeping in, or an unusually busy evening tends to shift your bedtime or wake-up time.

Over time, these notes can help you identify which daily routines make it easier to maintain a steady sleep-wake schedule.

If sleep difficulties persist even after your schedule is back on track, finding ways to improve sleep can help support more consistent, restorative rest.if any medications may cause sleep disruptions and whether the timing of your prescriptions is optimal.

Editorial Sources and Fact-Checking

bpHope follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, as outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, people with lived experiences, and information from top institutions.

UPDATED: Adapted from “A Field Guide to 40 Winks,” Fall 2016