What if you could use your own body’s internal clock as a wellness check. Seems simple enough, right?
Your Circadian Rhythm
Sometimes called a circadian clock, circadian rhythm is a 24-hour cycle that impacts your physiology. Humans, animals, and plants all have circadian rhythms. Changes in daylight and temperature within a 24-hour period send signals that regulate hormones, hunger, sleep patterns, and wakefulness. Recently, people have started to give circadian science more thought.
Screen Time Impacts Your Circadian Rhythm
In our digital age, excess screen time and its potential negative effects on health are a regular topic of the collective conversation. The long-term implications aren’t clear, but research suggests that sustained exposure to blue light, or artificial light from a screen, in the evening can disrupt your circadian rhythm.
Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies investigated how sensitive cells within the retina react to ambient light. They found that when a person’s eyes are stimulated with too much blue light after dark, their circadian clock will reset. This disruption to the body’s natural cycle can make it hard to fall asleep and wreak havoc on your overall health.
Lean Into Your Circadian Clock
As most of us know, lack of sleep can make keeping up with a workout regime difficult. But that’s not all. A study published in the Journal of Physiology found that the time of day you exercise also matters.
According to the report, those who work out at 7 am or between 1 pm and 4 pm are more in sync with their circadian clock. Consequently, they tend to fall asleep relatively quickly, feel more alert in the morning, and have a better chance at sticking to their fitness routine.
Conversely, those who exercise at night between 7 pm and 10 pm typically have a harder time winding down and getting to sleep. Not surprisingly, this leads to a feeling of sluggishness the next day and less motivation to work out.
Optimize Your Workout
Given the demands of life, sometimes the best time to exercise is when you can fit it in. If you can schedule your workouts during the optimal time slots, great! But if not, that’s OK, too. With the MYXfitness home studio, you can work out when you want to.
The freedom and flexibility that comes with an at-home system allows you to achieve optimal physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Order your home studio today, or discover more about the MYX difference.
