Need to start waking up earlier — or stay up later? Sleep experts have 7 tips for adjusting your body clock.

For some people, waking up early is a breeze. For others, it’s all about that night owl life. But what happens when you need to significantly shift around your sleep schedule? Is it even possible to change when we naturally wake up, or are some of us doomed to miss out on early morning hikes (or late-night concerts) indefinitely? And what happens when outside demands like a new job or bright-and-early school schedules conflict with your current bedtime habits?

Sleep experts have some answers. Here's what they say about how our body clock, or circadian rhythm, work, and what we can do to adjust it — instead of, you know, hitting the snooze button 20 times.

How does circadian rhythm work?

Circadian rhythms are the changes that most living things, including humans, experience over 24 hours that dictate vital bodily functions, such as our appetite and digestion, hormone release, temperature and, of course, sleep. Experts agree that light and dark have the highest impact on our body clock.

“Everybody has a circadian clock. It is a small part of the brain that keeps track of daily time,” Jamie Zeitzer, co-director of the Center for Sleep and Circadian Sciences at Stanford University and an adviser and reviewer for Rise Science, tells Yahoo Life. “The clock remains synchronized to the outside world through light exposure.”

Much of our circadian rhythm is tied to light exposure and our sensitivity to it — hence, most of us sleeping when it's dark out and waking when the sun comes up. But there’s something else at play with our sleep habits: the chronotype.

What is a chronotype?

“Our chronotype is our preference to sleep at a certain time, which we tend to describe as a morning person or a night person,” says Dr. Tanya Martinez-Fernandez, a pediatric pulmonologist and sleep medicine specialist at Children’s Health and associate professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. "[It] is influenced by genetic factors as well as by our circadian rhythm and can vary during the life cycle.”

Studies show that babies as young as 1 month old already demonstrate a small preference, or chronotype, to mornings or evenings. Martinez-Fernandez says, overall, younger children exhibit early morning chronotypes (cue a toddler crawling into your bed at 5 a.m.), with adolescents evolving into evening chronotypes. Zeitzer adds that older adults will generally also return to preferring mornings, though it’s unclear if it’s due to biology or not.

Because of this, you might find it easier or harder to shift your body clock depending on your chronotype at any given stage of life.

Tips for shifting your body clock

So ... can you adjust your body clock? Yes — but it isn’t always easy and it doesn’t happen overnight. Consistency and patience are key, especially if you’re trying to change it to something more extreme, such as needing to work overnight shifts. Here are some tips from Zeitzer, Martinez-Fernandez and Shelby Harris, director of sleep health at Sleepopolis.

Shift your bedtime and wake time for a few minutes each day

Our experts agree that incremental shifts of about 15 or so minutes per day work best for people of all ages. For parents whose kids are heading back to class, Martinez-Fernandez recommends starting a couple weeks prior to the new school year.

Get some sun first thing in the morning

While bright, natural light is the best option, Harris says sunlamps or sunrise clocks can also help wake you up, especially when used consistently.

Avoid caffeine and heavy meals before bed

Harris says avoiding caffeine before bed is a good idea in order to stick to your sleep and wake goals. Studies show that having caffeine even six hours before bed can cause sleep disturbances, and some doctors recommend stopping caffeine a full eight hours before bed. Harris also advises against eating a large meal before bed, and general guidance is to stop heavy meals about three hours prior to bedtime.

Maintain good sleep hygiene

Keeping your bedroom cool and dark will generally help you fall asleep faster (and stay asleep), helping you adjust to your new sleep routine. Limiting your blue light exposure by avoiding screens can also help. If that's not possible, Harris recommends using “night mode” on your phone or wearing blue light-blocking glasses. “But keep in mind that what tends to be a bigger issue than the blue light for many people is the desire to keep watching or scrolling, which can make settling for bed more challenging,” she adds.

Adjust your meds as needed

“Certain medications (ADHD stimulants, antidepressants, corticosteroids, beta-blockers) can affect your sleep patterns by making it harder to fall asleep and shortening your overall sleep time,” says Harris. If you need to go to bed sooner, try taking them earlier in the day. Conversely, you can take them later if you need to shift your clock to stay up later — but always consult your doctor first.

Be consistent

"Adjusting to longer-term patterns (e.g., a night owl needing to get up earlier) is trickier since your system acts as a rubber band, snapping back to its preferred biology as soon as you change your schedule,” says Zeitzer. That's why, no matter whether it’s a weekday or weekend, you want to stick to the same sleep time and wake time once you’ve made the incremental adjustments. Sticking to consistent bedtime routines is especially important for children.

If you need more help, ask your doctor or talk to a sleep specialist

Sometimes it might feel like no matter how hard you try to adjust your body clock, it just isn’t happening, and you’re not getting enough sleep. “If your sleep issues are chronic or impact you the next day, it may be time to speak to a sleep specialist to get to the root of the problem, like an undiagnosed sleep disorder (sleep apnea, etc.),” says Harris.