The last Sunday in September is the much anticipated start of daylight savings. We give up an hour of sleep for an hour of daylight, but as the year goes on we get progressively more daylight anyway. Depending on where you are in the country there’s 5 to 7 hours of difference in total daylight hours between June and December.
As we move through springtime, most people find it progressively easier to exercise. More evening daylight gives more opportunities to exercise outside after work. The lost hour of daylight in the morning is soon compensated for by the growing amount of total daylight. As the weather warms up it also becomes easier to consider morning exercise. More daylight means more vitamin D and this affects a variety of different areas of physical and mental health; bone density, immunity, disease prevention, mood and appetite. So the good news is that the end of September puts us on the trajectory to better times, but the bad news is that there’s a bit of a time lag.
The move to daylight savings can throw out your circadian rhythm, the 24 hour internal clock that’s running in your brain’s hypothalamus. This clock is very reliant on light for cues. A sudden change, even just an hour, can disrupt healthy hormone production, particularly when combined with the sleep deprivation associated with moving into daylight savings. Many people experience challenges to mood, appetite and metabolic rate following the shift. It’s common to feel tired, demotivated and prone to overeating. In addition to this, many people are coming up towards the change of clocks already a bit unsettled in sleep as they recover from the tail end of Covid symptoms. It’s very common to suffer insomnia, brain fog and fatigue.
Fortunately a good exercise regime can assist on all fronts. It helps regulate your confused clock by supporting the appropriate release of the hormones needed for settled sleep. You need a balance of melatonin (sleep hormone) and cortisol (stress hormone). Melatonin needs to peak at night for you to wind down and cortisol needs to peak in the morning for you to perk up. Exercise not only promotes more restful sleep, it also helps bring your internal clock back to equilibrium.
Exercise also helps with the mental grogginess associated with the shift to daylight savings. It stimulates Human Growth Hormone (HGH) which encourages the regeneration of brain cells. It also promotes the production of the four happy hormones that impact how you feel: endorphins (the euphoria hormones), serotonin (the security hormones), dopamine (the motivation hormones) and oxytocin (the bonding hormones).
If you’ve been a bit sedentary over the winter months then it’s a good idea to start easing back into exercise before the daylight savings transition occurs. As with all transitions, the best type of exercise to help you is the one you enjoy most. Just get your blood circulating, you can worry about the correct balance of strength/cardio/flexibility once you’re settled into the summer time-zone. If you’ve had Covid anytime in the last couple of months it’s particularly important to go gently with intensity to avoid the risk of Long Covid. Resuming appropriate exercise is important for regaining muscle strength and cardiovascular capacity, and for resilience in case you get Covid again.
Your body is designed to move about during the day and sleep soundly at night. Appropriate exercise gives you physical and mental resilience. You’ll need this for the daylight savings transition but it’s useful for all areas of life.