[Austin Both is the Associate Performance Director of Athletic Lab]
COVID-19 has brought upon strange times for us all. Many people are not working, and some others who are working are doing so from home instead of going into the office. As a result, you may find your daily schedule and rhythm severely interrupted. Humans are creatures of habit and we not only prefer to maintain our routines and schedules, but we actually crave it. Aside from the preference of a comfort zone, this can largely be attributed to our circadian rhythm influencing our mood, energy, and productivity depending on the time of the day (Barnes, 2015).
On the bright side, there is a simple fix that can do wonders to correct and maintain otherwise broken schedules. Exercise. Consistent exercise, especially that fit your pre-COVID-19 schedule, can be an easy fix to comfortably holding onto your daily rhythm. Furthermore, exercise occurs through a powerful two-pronged approach.
The first mechanism is simple. Exercise can serve as a powerful anchor in our day. In the same way your meals might divide your workday and provide structure, exercise can have an equal or more significant effect.
More importantly, exercise has a potent effect on our circadian rhythm, and from a practical point of view, this is our daily routine. For those who may be unfamiliar, circadian rhythm is a natural 24ish hour clock that manages our sleep/wake cycles as well as variable energy levels throughout the day (Sleep Foundation). Some research suggests that exercise has the ability to produce a “phase shift” in circadian rhythm, adjusting our internal clocks (Eastman et al., 1995). This effectively means that exercising earlier in the morning will allow us to become more alert in the morning, or an equal effect during the evening. Even more important than the concept of “phase shift,” is how powerful exercise can be in altering our daily rhythms. Changing your exercise schedule or removing its presence altogether can remove this anchor point from your daily schedule.
References
- Barnes, C. (28 January, 2015). The Ideal Work Schedule, as determined by Circadian Rhythms. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved on April 24, 2020 from https://hbr.org/2015/01/the-ideal-work-schedule-as-determined-by-circadian-rhythms
- Eastman, C., Hoese, EK., Youngstedt, ED., Liu, L. (1995). Phase Shifting human circadian rhythms with exercise during night shift. Physiology and Behavior 58(6): 1287-91.
- What is Circadian Rhythm . Sleep Foundation. Retrieved on April 24, 2020 from https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/what-circadian-rhythm
Thank you for the encouraging words, Austin.