At one point or another, we have all had one of those days where you feel like you’ve been hit by a truck, sometimes even after a full eight hours of sleep. Or maybe you find yourself wide awake at 2 AM, counting sheep or doom-scrolling social media. What if I told you that you might be suffering from jet-lag… without ever leaving your house?
It sounds crazy, but it’s a reality for a lot of folks. As coaches and practitioners, we’re obsessed with optimizing human performance. We track macros, periodize training, and analyze biometrics down to the decimal point. But we often overlook the most powerful driver of our biology: light.
Within our skull, sitting just above the roof of our mouth, we have something called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). This is Cent Com for our brain and it’s perception of time. This internal clock machinery isn’t a perfect 24-hour cycle. On its own, it drifts, with ebs and flows a little faster or slightly slower here and there. For most humans, it runs slightly longer, around 24.2 hours. That small 0.2-hour daily drift might seem trivial, but let’s do the math. In just five days, you’re a full hour out of sync with the world around you. In a month, you’re living in a completely different time zone.
So, what keeps us anchored to the 24-hour day? Light. Specifically, we have specialized neurons in our eyes that function as subconscious light detectors. These cells, called intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs), don’t care about shapes or colors. Their job is to measure the intensity of environmental light and report back to the SCN, essentially telling your brain what time it is.
This is why getting morning sunlight is a critical signal for optimal health and performance. That blast of photons signals the start of your biological day, setting in motion a cascade of hormonal and metabolic processes. Just 10-15 minutes of sunlight, even on a cloudy day, is enough to send a powerful signal to your brain, setting the daily diurnal rhythms in motion and in-sync.
Here’s where it gets interesting for performance optimization. Light doesn’t just regulate sleep. Research has uncovered a complex, integrated system that we call the “tripartite model.” This model suggests that our overall state is governed by three interacting components:
These three systems are in constant communication. When they’re aligned, you’re a well-oiled machine: energetic, focused, and metabolically efficient. When they’re not, well, that’s when things fall apart. You get what I like to call “Clock Shock,” which is basically the same feeling as jet-lag, at home; energy evaporates, your mood tanks, and your hunger cues go haywire. If you’ve found yourself craving calorie dense foods at 10 PM, it’s likely a symptom of misaligned circadian, homeostatic, and environmental signals.
Now, let’s talk about actual travel. Elite coaches know that showing up to a competition feeling sluggish is not an option. Manipulating light exposure is your most powerful tool for rapidly shifting your circadian clock. The key is understanding when to seek out light and when to avoid it like the plague.
Clock Shock Tip #1: The timing of your light exposure hinges on your body’s temperature nadir, a fancy way of saying your lowest core body temperature, which typically occurs about two hours before your usual wake-up time. Light exposure before this point delays your clock. Light exposure after this point advances it.
Getting this wrong can be catastrophic for performance. Imagine you fly from New York to Rome for a World Championships. You land at 8 AM local time, feeling exhausted because your clock is telling you that it’s 2 AM. Your first instinct might be to grab an espresso and soak up the Italian sun. Big mistake. Your brain will interpret that morning light as evening light, delaying your clock and sending your biology hurtling towards Pacific Coast time while you’re in Italy. You’ll be wide awake in the middle of the Italian night and completely useless the next day.
The secret is to control your light exposure with tremendous precision. This might mean wearing dark sunglasses (yep, the one time I actually recommend wearing sunglasses) and a hat upon arrival or even staying indoors for a few hours. Likewise, when you’re pre-shifting your clock at home, the timing of your meals and workouts becomes a powerful secondary signal to reinforce the change.
Mastering this interplay between light, food, and activity is an art form. It requires a deep understanding of the underlying physiology and a personalized strategy. Our coaches and team at Metabolic Elite live and breathe this science. Over the years I have developed systematic, detailed, travel-tested protocols for time zone shifts, ensuring you and your athletes arrive at any destination primed for peak performance.
Ready to stop guessing and start quantifying your circadian advantage? We have something really exciting coming our own Metabolic Elite Education Platform where you can get exclusive access to these advanced protocols and elevate your expertise. Stop being a victim of Clock Shock and start mastering it.
