Have you ever stopped to think that many factors influence your sports routine and, among them, a good night’s sleep and enough energy to carry out activities are essential to avoid getting tired or feeling unwell when training? Well, one factor that helps in this process is the biological clock, which has some connections with sports.
Knowing the training time, getting a good night’s sleep and knowing the terrain where you practice the activity are factors that influence your sports performance. Furthermore, this is how you can understand the relationships between your biological clock and sports!
Do you know how they are interconnected and how you can use physical exercise to improve your body’s performance? Stay tuned to find out how!
What is a biological clock?
You may have noticed that athletes try to regulate their daily routine to improve their athletic performance. From meal and training times, to a good night’s sleep and activities for quality of life, they plan everything to fill the 24 hours of their day.
And all this concern and organization are factors that influence what can be defined as the biological clock, which is a natural process that we all have, which helps to regulate not only the organism, but also how the body will work during the day.
Everything around us ends up influencing us, so a good night’s sleep, for example, guarantees disposition and energy for the routine. Sports, when practiced frequently, help to maintain the health of the body and avoid a sedentary lifestyle . There are several relationships that we can establish, which can be good or bad.
And why is it important to know this? The biological clock is a function of the human body to help us understand the day, so it will regulate our bodily activity during the 24 hours we live each day. And for this to happen, one of the main factors considered is the importance of light, as it is what makes us understand, for example, whether it is day or night.
Biological clock in everyday life
Having established the meaning of the biological clock, we now need to understand how it works in our daily lives. Have you ever noticed that your body will have a certain type of disposition at each hour of the day and that some people will be completely different from your reality? So, this bodily mechanism known as the biological clock will adjust your body’s functions so that it is harmonious throughout the day. And not only that, but it will also keep you healthy.
When you look at people who follow a morning routine, it is common for them to be tired at first and have energy peaks in the afternoon. Others can already follow the day from the moment they wake up and are already exhausted at night. Each person will react to the stimuli of the day in a different way, and the same will be true for athletes, because at each time of their routine, the body will have better results with practice .
In short, the biological clock will be alerted to perform various activities, such as releasing hormones , regulating body temperature, energy consumption, and so on. And all of this can be adjusted (or optimized) through sports!
The biological clock in sport
An active sports routine guarantees benefits that you already know: it improves your mood, optimizes your health and guarantees quality of life; the impacts will vary according to the intensity and dedication that each person establishes with physical exercises.
And of course, physical activity will have a positive influence on the biological clock. By helping the body to stay active, the organism will work in the best possible way, and therefore, it will be regulated to its reality. It is worth mentioning again that each body works in a different way and that proper professional monitoring is important to understand the mechanisms of your organism .
In other words, the biological clock in sports is linked to how you organize yourself during the day, not only to practice exercises, but also to how you perceive the benefits. There is no point in having a planned training routine, but not having an ideal diet and a bad night’s sleep. Everything will depend on how your day is organized . One of the only caveats to understanding the effects of the biological clock is if the athlete takes trips that have discrepancies in schedules.
The effects of time
If you are an athlete who travels a lot, whether for work or sports, you may have heard the term jet lag . It refers to the time delay in your place of origin, so when the time zone is not in line with what you are used to, your biological clock starts to malfunction.
But don’t worry, this is temporary! Since you’re dealing with a different time and space, it requires adaptation (just like everything else in life), so don’t worry too much. Your sports routine will be affected, but your body will find ways to adapt to the place it’s in.
This difference that exists between trips is a great example to understand the importance of the biological clock, especially in sports, because, at first, you will not perform well, either due to the difference in altitude or the quality of sleep that is not yet correct.
Respect your body, understand how it works and find ways to keep it in balance. Know that for your biological clock to work properly in sports, you, the athlete, need to help keep it in harmony!
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