Why do you have trouble sleeping at night? The reason for this is that you may not have understood what was pushing you to sleep in the first place. Regardless of how it actually feels, sleep is not something that can be initiated by your will. The environment is really behind it, manipulating the sleep switch in your body at the cellular level. Circadian rhythms: The Earth is controlling your body There are many ways the brain keeps time, the most basic of which is the circadian rhythm, a mechanism that monitors the passage of time in a 24-hour-a-day cycle according to standard Earth time. This is why most of us go to bed at dark and get up at dawn. The power of this biological clock is that it is able to adapt to the new day and night cycle. So, when you fly from the United States to Europe, you will have jet lag, but you can always recover. The circadian cycle on the other side of the planet will slowly change your internal clock, and sooner or later, you will find yourself able to sleep at night, even though not long ago this clock was still daylight for you. However, if the circadian cycle disappears completely, your biological clock will still insist on functioning, counting the hours and pushing you to sleep at about the same time. The human biological clock is located in a brain nucleus called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). If this area is damaged, various problems can occur in the sleep cycle. But the main cause of sleep disorders in humans is not SCN disruption, but rather the way the biological clock is wound up. Bad sleep equals bad biological clock People who have disrupted or insufficient sleep are more likely to be obese, depressed, have inflammatory infections, and even more likely to develop cancer. This doesn’t mean that if you don’t get a good night’s sleep you’re going to get sick – much less that insomnia causes disease. It just means that there is a strong correlation between poor sleep and health problems. To be more specific, it means that many of the proteins and genes associated with human health are also responsible for keeping the biological clock in the brain functioning properly. How does the biological clock control our state of health? When your body is not able to sense the regular circadian signals from the environment, the normal function of the biological clock is affected. You will have trouble sleeping, or outright insomnia. Dreaming can also be disturbed, which can seriously affect mood and memory. If the biological clock stops, it may not send the right “start” signals to direct molecules to remove toxins from swollen tissues – or to repair damaged DNA – which, if it continues, can lead to chronic disease over time. Biological clock calibration: sleep correctly The reason you can’t sleep may be because you haven’t properly calibrated your biological clock according to the alternating day/night cycle. This problem is especially serious for people who work late – when the body receives the “go to sleep” signal from the environment, but has to stay awake. One approach that works for many people is to make sure your body is receiving enough environmental signals. If you have to work late shifts, maybe try taking a walk before sunset to trigger wakefulness – and if possible, try to avoid sunlight and other intense light before bedtime. If you work indoors all day, try to go out in the morning or afternoon to dry off, at least once a day, even on cloudy days. Obviously, this simple solution doesn’t apply to everyone – especially if your sleep disorder isn’t caused by your biological clock. But many people find that properly aligning their bodies with the circadian cycle can help them fall asleep at night. And getting a good night’s sleep can, in turn, relax you and improve your health.