The consensus is a healthy dose of variability in peak morning players versus peak evening players is okay for as long as it doesn’t exceed 25%. If we want to be hyper-analytical, then we can also consider how being a morning person or evening person affects the dynamics, performance, and winning percentages of a group.ĭata on this topic has been collected in field sport athletes (rugby, field hockey, and soccer) at both elite and amateur levels. These data trends also reveal that west coast teams tend to have better regular-season winning percentages due to playing fewer games in their biological afternoon and more evening games when we experience a "second wind" in alertness/motivation. To date, there are some data trends from the regular season of the National Football League showing that risk for injury is highest when mental fatigue due to drops in core body temperature is highest compared to any other time of the day. Mental acuity is required to execute highly coordinated movements with a higher risk of injury, so it's understandable why this relationship with time of day matters for the top-performing athlete. These high points and low points coincide with peak and troughs in core body temperature, respectively. In general, we have two high points and two low points in the day when fatigue is at its highest or lowest. In fact, in a study of elite weightlifters, it took a performance-enhancing stimulant (caffeine) to get lifting performance to afternoon levels in a sample of athletes lifting in the morning.Īnother point to consider is how biological clocks can drive risk for injury. At this time, levels of norepinephrine and adrenaline-driven by time of day have been shown to prime for peak muscle power and muscle recruitment. Weights, on the other hand, ought to be reserved for the late afternoon. Rises in morning cortisol levels prime our body to be awake with the mid-morning peak in cortisol corresponding with peak mental alertness.Ĭortisol also allows for the recruitment of energy reserves, glucose, and especially fats, making cardio much easier to complete and making it much easier to push to a higher level of performance aerobically. This is part of the reason why it is so difficult to sleep past a particular hour if you are waking up in the west after just traveling from the east. Rises in cortisol levels drive the act of waking up in the morning. So, what should you do first - cardio or weights - if you want to align peak performance with your biological clock? Cardio! Read more: Muscle Clocks and The Value of Synchronized Training But beyond just being a genetic anomaly, recent research shows that endurance activities ought to be reserved for one time of the day and power activities for another time of the day. Endurance athletes may pre-select for their sport because their body clocks can tolerate the extremely early morning rise times, much like top-performing executives might pre-select their career due to having the short sleep gene. The inner workings of these biological clocks can also help dictate whether someone is truly a morning person or a night owl. These clocks work together to help us perform at our best during some hours, to capitalize on sleep during other hours, and to quickly re-adjust to changes in the environment, such as flying to a new time zone. These biological clocks are present in nearly every tissue of the brain and body. #Around the clock fitness series#For sleep scientists, we think of training around the clock as the literal biological clock, a unique series of biological factors that determine when we release certain wake-promoting hormones, recovery-promoting hormones, and sleep-promoting hormones.
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