Having trouble getting or staying motivated to exercise? It may be that you’re out of rhythm with your body. Michael Smolensky, a University of Texas professor, wrote The Body Clock Guide to Better Health: How to Use Your Body’s Natural Clock to Fight Illness and Achieve Maximum Health, a book that explains how your body’s circadian rhythms affect how and when you can get the most out of activities like a great workout.

Circadian rhythms are regular changes in mental and physical characteristics that occur in the course of a day. Most are controlled by the body’s biological "clock," a pair of minute brain structures that together contain about 20,000 neurons. Your circadian rhythms are affected mostly by light, but also by external cues like an alarm clock, the noise of the garbage truck or when you regularly eat your meals. The most significant affect your biological clock has on your daily routine is your sleep pattern. According to chronobiology, the science that studies circadian rhythms, this means we all have an optimal time to exercise successfully.

Smolensky terms us as hummingbirds, larks or owls. He says “about 70 – 75% of us are hummingbirds. The other 25% or so are divided between larks and owls.” Which are you?

Larks are morning people. You wake up motivated and ready to go with a smile already planted firmly on your whistling lips. For you, you’re most likely to succeed by incorporating an early AM workout. Enjoy the sunrise as you walk or jog along your favorite route. Be sure to start slow and stretch well. Your muscles have been still for a number of hours and need time to wake up in order to avoid injury.

Hummingbirds are not necessarily morning lovers like the larks, but you don’t have any idea what’s on late night TV. You’re in bed and awake at “normal” hours. Your optimal exercise time is between lunch and dinner. Try incorporating a brisk walk during lunch or take gym clothes with you to the office or to your last afternoon class. Your challenge is to get in your workout before the sun sets, Cinderella. That’s when your rhythms begin to tell your body to slow down and get ready to rest. It’s most difficult for you to make your workouts routine because of scheduling demands, but now you know you’re not lazy, you’re just finding your rhythm.

Owls, as you might have guessed, love late night and rarely see the hours before 9 AM. Your prime time to exercise is after dinner when the night is young and you’re ready to go. Be sure to wait an appropriate time after eating to do intense workouts and leave two hours before bedtime so your elevated body temps don’t keep you from getting recuperative sleep.

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