Hey Team, Happy Daylight Savings ⏰ Feeling off? The time change isn’t in your head, it’s in your circadian rhythm. Research from Harvard Medical School shows even a one-hour disruption can affect sleep efficiency, cortisol timing, and reaction speed for up to a week. For athletes and lifters, that translates to sluggish sessions, mood dips, and recovery delays. When daylight shifts, your body’s internal clock doesn’t reset instantly. Your brain and hormones are still going by “yesterday’s time.” Performance runs on rhythm, not caffeine. Your circadian system regulates testosterone, growth hormone, body temperature, and grip strength, all of which peak later in the day. When the clock changes, your body’s cues for energy, hunger, and sleep fall out of sync. A 2019 study in Sleep Medicine found training volume and peak power output dip by 5–10% in the week after daylight savings due to sleep loss and misaligned hormone release. Here’s three ways to stay locked in despite the changes in time- - Shift your schedule gradually.
Move bedtime and wake time 15 minutes earlier or later (depending on the season) over 3–4 days. Your body adapts to small steps faster than one big jump. Also, add 30 minutes of sleep if possible. This is where your hormones and circadian rhythm realign.
- Anchor your mornings to sunlight.
Get 5–10 minutes of outdoor light within 30 minutes of waking. This resets your circadian clock and boosts serotonin → melatonin production for better sleep that night.
- Don’t chase PRs this week.
Keep training, but dial intensity down by 5–10%. Let your CNS (central nervous system) catch up before a max effort workout. Focus on technique, mobility, and recovery this week.
Daylight savings doesn’t have to throw your performance off course, it just demands an adjustment. Give your body time, sunlight, and recovery, and your lifts will reset stronger than before. Control your clock. Don’t let it control your training. Until next time. 👋 | 
