The clock is going back; what does your body think about it?
The clock going back is one of the UK's most universally experienced seasonal transitions. It abruptly changes how a person experiences daylight throughout the year. And what I mean by this is, in Brasil, we also have (had?) summer time clock changes, but when you’re in a tropical country, there isn’t much of a difference, to be honest.
That’s why I want to talk here a little about how naturopathic thinking would deal with this ‘north of the globe’ experience.
Why the abruptness is noteworthy
Unlike most seasonal transitions, which unfold gently and gradually, the change in the clocks takes place all at once – because it’s manmade. This is one of those genuinely unusual things to ask a body to contend with, because most other rhythms in our lives would respond positively to a slower, gradual adjustment.
Naturopathic thinking, applied to this, would advocate a slow adjustment to the new schedule, rather than expecting the body to simply adjust to the new time as if it had been in force all at once – adjusting your eating, lighting, and sleeping patterns by degrees in the days either before or after the clocks go back would help you to ease more gently into the new pattern.
Comfort food, but without the whole "guilt" narrative nonsense
A little detour, before we keep talking about the clock changing. I think it is very damaging to people as a concept that the heavier, heartier foods we associate with the colder months are something we ought to feel guilty or ashamed of ourselves for desiring when the seasons change.
Naturopathic thinking, as I understand it, does not see this kind of shift in appetite as a problem – wanting to eat more substantial, warming foods is simply your body telling you that it needs that extra energy and warmth now that the temperature outside is dropping, and it's the natural response to the environmental shift.
I think it's doing yourself a disservice to oppose that response, to hold yourself back, instead of simply taking what your body is asking for more seriously. If you're not sure how to make this shift in your diet without losing all your hard work on fitness and wellbeing, ask a nutritionist or a dietitian.
And on a personal note, I think eating in a way that responds to your body's signals more honestly rather than overriding it with an externally imposed rule is something closer to what naturopathy encourages.
Bringing the two back together
The clocks going back, and the inclination to eat heartier food in the darker evenings are both, in a very real sense, the same thing – in both cases, what you need to do is to listen very closely to what your body is telling you and do your best to respond to support it. Neither of these changes is a problem that needs solutions – they're body processes that merely need to be supported as they happen.
Stay cosy,
Loris