The clocks went back last weekend.
Everyone talks about the extra hour in bed.
Nobody talks about the week after.
Waking up before the alarm. Hitting a wall at 4pm. Dark by teatime, so the evening walk doesn't happen. And somewhere around Wednesday, that little voice: "I can't be bothered this week."
Sound familiar?
Good weeks of training, good habits, and then the clocks change and everything feels harder for no obvious reason. Here in Cheltenham, it's dark before most people have finished work.
So let's talk about the reason.
Here's what's actually going on
Your body runs on a clock.
It's set mostly by light: when you see daylight, when it gets dark, when you eat, when you sleep.
When the clocks go back, the time on your phone moves an hour. Your body doesn't. Not straight away.
Ronan Lordan, a researcher who studies body clocks, put it simply in an article for The Conversation: most people adjust within a few days to about a week. Some take a bit longer.
That's it. That's why you feel off.
It's not a willpower problem.
It's not your age.
It's not you "falling off the wagon" again.
Your body is catching up. And there are a few small things that help it catch up faster.
Four small things that help
These come from that same article. None of them need you to change your life.
Pick two.
1. Get daylight in the middle of the day.
Daylight is what sets your clock. A ten-minute walk at lunchtime does more than you'd think. If you work from home, get outside before you eat lunch, not after you finish for the day, because by then it's dark.
2. Keep your bedtime and wake-up time steady.
Same times on weekdays and weekends, as near as you can. A big lie-in on Saturday feels lovely, but it moves your clock again just as it's settling.
3. Dim things down in the evening.
Lower lights, screen brightness down, a darker bedroom. You're telling your body the day's done.
4. Move your last coffee earlier.
He mentions a small study where a big dose of caffeine, around three to five cups' worth, still affected sleep when it was drunk eight hours before bed. One cup four hours before bed made no difference. So you don't need to give coffee up. Just think about when the last one goes in.
What this means for your training
In my experience, this is the week people quit.
Not because the plan was wrong. Because they felt tired, assumed they'd lost their motivation, and decided to "start again in January".
Here's what I'd rather you did.
Keep your sessions in the diary, but drop the intensity a notch if you need to. Turn up, move well, go home.
A lighter week you actually do beats a hard week you skip.
If you can, train in daylight. It's one of the reasons I keep weekday afternoons open in Cheltenham: you get your session and your daylight in one go.
And give it a week. If you still feel wiped out a month from now, have a chat with your GP, because the clock change probably isn't the whole story.
A simple plan for the next seven days
If you like things written down, here's how I'd keep it simple.
Every weekday: ten minutes outside before lunch. Round the block counts. So does the walk to the shop.
Every night: same bedtime, give or take half an hour. Lights down and phone away for the last bit of the evening.
Every afternoon: last coffee a little earlier than usual. If it's normally 4pm, try 2pm.
Training: keep every session you've booked. If you feel flat, go lighter. Still turn up.
At the weekend: wake up within an hour of your weekday time. Then go and enjoy your day.
That's it. No overhaul. Nothing you need to buy.
So the real question is...
What's one thing from this list you could start tomorrow?
Not all four. One.
That's how this works. Small things, done every week, through the dark mornings and the busy weeks. Trust the process.
Onwards and upwards.
Source: Four ways to help your body adjust to the autumn time change, The Conversation
If you'd like a hand building a routine that survives the winter, book a free 15-minute call.
Time to "Be More" – L