I was looking at my long-term sleep data the other day (as you do). I noticed the earlier I go to bed, the better I sleep.

When one goes up the other goes down. It's nearly a mirror image.

I remember hearing somewhere that the hours before midnight are the most important for sleep.

But is that just some BS our Mums' tell us to get us to bed earlier?

Apparently not. There's some science to it.

It's based on our circadian rhythm. Our internal clocks. The physical, mental and behavioural changes that we cycle through every 24 hours (mostly influenced by light and dark).

And over hundreds of millions of years, our bodies have synced up with the movements of the earth and the sun. In the big picture, electric light is just out of the womb.

So when the sun goes down, our bodies are wired to sleep. Makes sense, right?

Sleep wizard, Dr Nerina Ramlakhan reckons:

“The 90-minute phase before midnight is one of the most powerful phases of sleep, because it’s the period where the body is replenished. It’s rejuvenated on every level - physically, mentally, emotionally and, I believe, spiritually as well. There’s a lot of healing that takes place in that first phase of sleep.”

I think we all intuitively know this.

The problem is that I stay up later on the weekends, which knocks my clock around a bit.

If you're the same, here's a circadian reset from Dr Andrew Huberman. On Monday morning:

• ⏰ Wake up 30 mins earlier than usual
• 🚿 1 min cold shower‍
• 🤸 10 mins of movement, outside (in the sun)

He says each step helps shift our internal clock back to normal. Science.