Dr. Michael Grandner

If you don't really have a really strong meal, you're sort of hungry all over the clock.

You don't have that rhythm.

But if you have a strong morning signal with some bright light at a predictable time, about 16 to 17 hours later, your body will expect to be ready for sleep.

And if you can make that a little more regular, it makes...

It's like if you want someone to catch a ball downfield and you throw it about the same distance every time, but you keep moving, the person downfield doesn't know where to stand.

But if you stay still, they can predict where the ball is going to land.

So by setting that timer, it sets you up for success by starting that timer.

The second thing that it does...

is that it creates a circadian amplitude.

So your circadian rhythm, this 24 hour cycle, it's like when you're on the couch in the dark all day, you don't have a strong daytime rhythm, so you don't have a strong nighttime rhythm.

But if you get a strong daytime signal by being active and getting, especially outside light, especially in the morning to start that curve going,

by the time nighttime comes, you'll have an even stronger nighttime signal.

And then the third thing that it does that even fewer people know about is, you know, everyone knows that light at night is bad and that light in the morning is good, but light across the day matters where the more outdoor light, the more bright light, but it's mostly means outdoor light, the more light you get during the day, the

it inoculates you against light at night.

Because if you got a really strong light daytime signal,

You can get all kinds of light from screens or whatever at night, and it actually won't matter for most people.

You can actually, you can, so you, again, it's lesser known, but because the system knows where it is, it's not looking for information anymore.

And, and conflicting information will get thrown out as opposed to like, I don't know, it's, it's light now, but I didn't get a ton of light during the day.

Maybe it's daytime.

I don't know, but you can inoculate yourself against nighttime light by getting plenty of daytime light.