Four Tips for Staying Healthy During Daylight Savings
It’s no secret that we as a nation love our sleep, coffee and sunshine. So when time changes occur, it often becomes difficult to reconcile that the longer sunny days are gone and our sleep pattern is turned upside down.
At the end of our work day, it is now darker and colder and the motivation and resolve to go to the gym or that extra Pilates class just isn’t there. The looming nightfall seems to put us in this catatonic state where all me want to do is order a quick dinner and veg out to the latest Netflix offerings.
Despite all the warnings of the time change making us less likely to do certain things or reducing one’s overall health, here are four tips that will help keep you on your regular regime and path.
#1 Eat A Solid and Nutritious Breakfast
The effects of eating well when you first wake up cannot be overstated enough. A study from Harvard Journal of Medicine states that eating a good meal in the morning helps prime your body’s engine for the day and allows more regulating of your brain chemistry, reducing stress and promoting time released energy throughout the day.
#2 Get Some Morning Sunshine
Do you have a backyard facing East, or that room in your home that seems to get all the sun early in the morning? Take 15 or 20 minutes to bask in that light, and you will be happy you did! Not only do the rays helps you feel more positive, but the sunshine literally helps switch off the sleep hormone, Melatonin, setting you up to be more alert and ready to face the day!
#3 Exercise Before your Job
Are you able to squeeze in 20 minutes of morning exercise? Exercising before you shower not only gets the task done, but then saves you the hassle or worry of exercising after a long day at work; and the benefits have the same effect on your body and brain chemistry helping to reset your metabolic clock.
#4 Wake Up 30 Minutes Early on the Weekend
By waking up 30 minutes you allow for your body to adjust incrementally to the time change and your body slowly begins to adapt to the time difference without feeling like it just got hit by a mac truck going a 100 miles per hour!
Doing any and all the above will not only allow for your body and brain’s central nervous system to adapt better, but it will also allow for you to stay healthy, happy and motivated on the longer darker days.
