Falling into Daylight Savings
As we move through this beautiful beginning of fall, the quintessential time of transition, another hallmark of the season approaches – Daylight Savings! On November 3rd, we will turn our clocks back an hour, which can either be a blessing – permission to go to bed at 8 p.m.? Yes, please! – or utter exhaustion due to our fast-paced cultural drive to keep the same hours, routines, and activities as we do during the long summer days.
We need the seasonal shift of light, temperature, and food variety to rest, recover, and replenish nutrients worn thin by the high pace of those long summer days.
However, in the modern world, we rarely adjust our daily routines with the change of seasons. Instead, we force ourselves out of bed in the dark at 5 a.m., chug coffee, and drive to a fluorescent-lit gym for a HIIT workout. Then, after a tropical fruit smoothie, we hack away at a computer indoors, cranking the heater high enough to simulate the 70 degree summers, and staying up late watching Netflix, scrolling phones, gasp! working because we feel like going to bed earlier would be “unproductive.”
Then we are shocked to find by mid- January we are exhausted, depressed, and counting the days til summer arrives or we can sneak away for a real tropical environment.
What if instead of suffering through half the year, we adjusted our routines with the seasons? What if we changed the signals we give our bodies and allow them to rest and recover during those long, cold fall and winter nights? The tips below are time-honored ways to change the light, temperature, and food signals we give our bodies in fall to optimize health and enjoy the season!
TIPS:
Get Your Light Right
Humans are diurnal animals, which means we evolved under the sun. Our natural hormone cycles from the release of cortisol at sunrise, the production of thyroid and sex hormones throughout the day, and the production of melatonin at dusk. Our brain receives the signal of what hormones and in what amount to make from sunlight through the eyes. If the first light our eyes see in the morning is natural sunlight (whether it’s actually sunny or not), then it knows that approximately 12 hours later, cortisol should be low and production of melatonin should ramp up, helping with sleep and the mitochondrial healing that happens during sleep. When our eyes and skin receive UVA light in the morning, our hypothalamus knows to crank out certain hormones – think thyroid and sex hormones – in relation to the time of year and time of day in which we find ourselves.
If, however, the first light your eyes see is the blaring blue-light dominant LED bulbs from our bathroom, followed by the bright blue IPhone screen, our brain receives the signal that it is high noon in June and, thus, should be pumping out cortisol in response to the bright blue light. And our adrenals do just that… which overtime will throw off production of downstream hormones and melatonin.
Ironically, before the widespread use of LED bulbs in 2014 and the SmartPhone in 2013, this wasn’t as much of an issue. But, fast forward a decade and most of us begin the day with a phone scroll and within minutes are logged into our blue-light emitting laptops rather than enjoying sunrise. In response, our rates of depression, seasonal affective disorder, and hormone imbalance have risen dramatically.
So, what to do? Move to a yurt in the woods? Obviously not. Start with these tricks:
- Aim to mimic the light outside with the light inside as best as you can- if it’s dark outside, it shouldn’t look like an airport terminal in your house. Turn off the overhead LED lights (they are in the position of the noonday sun…), use table lamps (incandescent bulbs are best), Himalayan salt lamps, or candles. Hint: this calm lighting also supports a less frantic start to the day.
- Let the first light your eyes see be natural light, not your phone. (I know, this is tough one). Open the door or window (glass blocks beneficial light rays), take off your glasses, and gaze at the light for at least 5 minutes. Hint: if you are driving, just open the window a crack.
- If you wake before sunrise, wear some amber or yellow-tinted blue blocker glasses (see recommendations below) until the sunrise, then go outside for a few minutes of natural light before you start your day.
- Pre-dawn can also be a great time to layer in some red light therapy. Red and near infrared is really only present in nature from sunlight or heat, so utilizing a red light device for a few minutes every morning can help brighten mood as well as reduce inflammation and promote collagen production in the skin.
- Have no idea when sunrise even is? Download the app “Circadian Life” and sync to your location. Using this application, you can also set alarms to remind you to go outside during the day.
- Get bright daylight outside during the day as often as possible. Even when it is cloudy and overcast, the light outside is much brighter than that indoors and has been shown to improve mood in those with seasonal affective disorder. Set a timer and try to go outside, or at least crack a window or door for 5 minutes or so to remind your brain it is still daytime. This will also help that nighttime melatonin production.
- Buy some blue blockers with tinted lenses. The clear ones do not work. We recommend these companies: Bon Charge (use code “sutton” for 15% off), VivaRays (code YOGI for discount), or Spectra-479 (much lower price point, plus they have clip-ons).
Level Up by Using Temperature Variation
With the change in season comes a change in temperature. Many folks avoid the cold like the plague, climbing out of bed into a 70 degree house, bundling up and getting into a 70 degree car, then arriving at a 70 degree office for the remainder of the day before returning home to do it all over again.
This may sound pleasant enough, but like light, our brains receive signals about temperature to adapt hormone production to the season. If you are one who struggles with mood or hormonal dysregulation, fatigue, or seasonal affective disorder, using temperature to reset your circadian rhythm may be quite helpful. Start here:
- Get cold in the morning.
This could be simply splashing cold water on the face, wrists, and neck, using an ice cube over the face (this also helps reduce puffiness and inflammation), going outside in your tank top and shorts for a few moments, or taking a cold shower or cold plunge. Try the one that seems most doable for you and be consistent. Put a sticky note on your bathroom mirror to remind yourself!
- Get warm in the evening.
Ideally, you want to heat up your body temperature before going to bed so it can cool off and help facilitate deep sleep. Take a hot bath or shower, or take advantage of the sauna at a local gym, CryoMethod, or Float.
Many companies, including Bon Charge, also make sauna blankets which can work beautifully as well.
Embrace Seasonal and Local Flavors
Aim to adjust your diet to local and seasonal produce and flavors. Not only does this make things more interesting and festive, but it aligns with traditional eating patterns. Just like light and temperature, food is also an important signal to your body about the location and time of year in which you are located. If you are in northern latitudes, consider swapping your tropical fruit, coconut water, avocado smoothies for broth-based soups or a fat/protein-fueled coffee or tea and a pumpkin muffin (recipes below)
Learn more about which foods are grown locally in the fall, or rather, which are harvested now but can keep for months. Use the Seasonal Food Guide here: https://www.seasonalfoodguide.org/ to educate yourself on what is local and seasonal. These foods will have the most nutrients since they were harvested at their peak ripeness. Plus, they will provide the minerals you need to replenish after a long, active summer.
Traditionally in the fall, people in northern latitudes would “fatten” up with root vegetables, apples, pears, and winter squashes. As the season transitions to winter and not much is available in terms of produce, people would lean more heavily on meat and seafood, aged cheeses where available, and shelf-stable goods like sauerkraut, pickled goods, and onions and garlic. In other words, a lower carbohydrate approach. Not only did this seasonal variation help keep bodies metabolically healthy, but allowed the microbiome to shift seasonally. This can help prevent food sensitivities that can occur from eating the same foods day in and day out.
Consider signing up for a winter CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) to pick up a weekly or bi-weekly box of local produce all throughout the winter. Some great options are Winter Kissed Farms, Western Montana Grower’s Cooperative, or Garden City Harvest.
We hope that helps keep your body in a better balance this fall as we approach Day Light Savings time. Now go enjoy that extra hour of rest!