Time change tips inside - Do these tonight and this week!
Did this morning feel extra dark for you?
Hi Reader,
If this morning felt brutal, there's a reason. For a lot of us, today had the latest sunrise of the entire year.
Check out the map below to see if your morning was one of the darkest. Here in Atlanta the sun didn't come up until around 8 (and of course my 4 year old was up at 6:30).....
AND - I'm going to give you our exact winter routine & adjustment plan in this email!
But first:
If you missed the Ferritin Terrain Summit - you can still grab VIP through tomorrow (after Sunday - all the speaker gifts disappear!) CLICK HERE
The clocks fall back tonight (unless you're in Arizona, or you're in Europe and already turned them back last week).
Here's the thing: I teach circadian biology and STILL have kids that wake up at 5am the day of the time change. So here's exactly what I do to help them (and me) adjust.
I push bedtime a little later tonight. Not a full hour, just 20 or 30 minutes so their bodies aren't starting the new schedule a whole hour off.
I make the bedroom really dark (I already to this anyway). Tomorrow the sun comes up an hour earlier on the clock, and that early light sneaking around the curtains is exactly what wakes my kids up. Blackout curtains or even foil on the windows for a week helps a lot.
If they're up at 5am anyway, I keep it boring. No overhead lights, no screens. Dim lamps or red light only until the sun is up, so their brains don't lock in 5am as the new morning (we do this year round anyway!)
Then we go outside for sunrise. That morning light is what actually resets their clock to the new time, faster than anything else I've tried.
Temperature is also helpful to set the clock (cold is great in the morning).
I keep meals on the new clock. Breakfast, lunch and dinner at the normal times, even if everybody's hungry early the first day or two.
And I watch the evenings. It's going to be dark around 5:30 now, which means we're all under artificial light for hours longer. I turn the lights down after sunset and keep things really dim for the 3 hours before bed.
Most kids (and adults) adjust in about a week if you work with light instead of fighting it.
Keep reading for my brand new video on my exact winter routine.
Two things before they're gone:
The time change is just the start of winter. Every Winter Roadmap includes a time change adjustment plus a custom plan for the whole winter and the holidays, based on your latitude, your light, your temperature and the symptoms you're dealing with right now. You also get 60 days of my circadian app with the lux session timer and 60 days of my Wellness Assistant for your food and latitude questions.
I'm closing the Roadmap on November 20 until next winter. [GET YOUR ROADMAP]
And if you missed the Ferritin Terrain Summit, you can still get VIP access for $99 through Sunday night only. That's lifetime access to all 15 expert sessions, my Ferritin Clarity Roadmap - The 50 Dump and Go Recipes, and the gift package from our speakers worth over $1,000. After Sunday night, it's gone. [GRAB VIP ACCESS]
New Video
What’s in this episode?
Can a red light panel replace morning sunlight? Sarah explains why it can't, and how to get enough light in winter. Plus the winter tools she uses: a 10,000 lux target outdoors, a 3-hour pre-bed lighting rule, and what to eat and when. Sarah Kleiner shares her winter light and routine tools, based on her work with clients in places like Alaska, Florida and Austria. She covers:
Why a red light therapy panel has no blue light, and why she says you can't "hack" morning sunlight with one Getting about 10,000 lux outside, and using a Lux Session Timer to see how long that takes (she says usually 10–20 minutes) What she does if you're up before sunrise: red light preconditioning, eating something, and yellow blue blockers for dark drives How she uses light boxes, with a caution that overuse made her jittery and anxious Office tools: an incandescent bulb at your desk, and going outside midday Meal timing: why she says breakfast is a circadian anchor, and why most people shouldn't stop eating at 4 PM A study where 17 people spent 6 hours a day at 59°F for 10 days. They grew more brown fat and burned about 100–200 extra calories a day without shivering. A study of 809 adults in Spain: bright days and dark nights were linked with lower BMI, body fat, triglycerides and insulin resistance. Night lighting: keeping lux at 10 or below for the 3 hours before bed, and violet-light glasses for TV
