Welcome to a Special Edition of Motivated Mondays: Spring Forward into Better Sleep! Today, we’ll explore just how the Daylight Savings Time change impacts our health and what we can do to prep our bodies

CCP helps you stay on track!
 
Continue to use our log to to track your progress toward our mini resolution. This month, we encourage you to try one sleep tip per week. Log which tip you selected and the result(s) you experienced.
 
For questions or assistance, email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele McCambridge:
 
mmccambridge@ccpmd.com

Spring Forward into Better Sleep

Each year, we “spring forward” into Daylight Saving Time (DST) on the second Sunday in March (March 8, 2026) and “fall back” to Standard Time on the first Sunday in November (November 1, 2026). While the extra evening daylight was originally intended to conserve energy, research has since identified several potential adverse health effects associated with the time change.
 
For a variety of reasons, many experts believe we should eliminate the twice-yearly time change and stick with one standard year-round—either permanent Daylight Savings Time or permanent Standard Time. Most scientists agree the latter is best, as Standard Time is well-established to be more aligned with our primitive CR.
 
But for now, no such changes have been made, and we’ll be switching to Daylight Saving Time next weekend. Hopefully our Sleep Better mini resolution has you ahead of the game, feeling well-rested and ready for the shift!

Daylight Savings & Our Health
 
Beyond an already sleep-deprived society losing yet another hour of sleep, what is the reason DST can be disruptive to our health?
 
You may recall from previous discussions that the Circadian Rhythm (CR) is the body’s master biological clock regulating sleep, behavior, hormone levels, body temperature, digestion and metabolism. Remember too that almost every cell in your body has its own CR. The primary driver of the CR is our exposure to lightness and darkness. For optimal functioning, our CR requires exposure to bright light during the day which keeps us alert and reduced amounts of light in the evening to induce drowsiness to get a good night’s rest. However, the opposite happens after DST when it is darker in the morning and lighter in the evening, and your body’s natural CR becomes misaligned with the clock.
 
A misaligned CR will leave you groggy in the morning hours and alert before bed—much like jet lag if you travel West to East. What’s more, a misaligned CR will interfere with your sleep patterns AND disrupt the appropriate timing of the release of hormones which impact hunger/satiety, mood, immunity, and metabolism.

 
The following stats have also been observed in the window of time shortly after DST:

• 30% increase in vehicle traffic accidents the day after DST goes into effect
• 5.7% increase in work accidents
• 3.9% increase in myocardial infarctions (heart attacks)
• 3% increase in disorders of the digestive system in females and a 6% increase in disorders of the digestive system in males
• Increased risk of substance abuse
• Increase in reported mental and behavioral health disorders
• Increase in sundowning in Alzheimer’s patients

Preparing for DST
 
Rest assured (pun intended!) we can start priming our bodies now ahead of the impending time change. Many of these are repeat tips from the past few weeks.

Sleep & Play
 
Starting tomorrow night, you may try going to bed 15 minutes earlier each evening than the night before until the change happens. This will make that initial hour-long loss of sleep less challenging.
 
To avoid a bad cycle of not sleeping and trying to catch up on sleep and then not sleeping again, limit any naps to 20 minutes in duration next Sunday and Monday.
 
Keep a regular exercise routine, but avoid it close to bedtime when it might interfere with sleep.
 
Consider a lighter schedule that Sunday, 3/8, and Monday, 3/9, to allow your body to adjust.

Daylight, Daylight, Daylight!
 
From the time you rise until just after dinner, get as much exposure to daylight as possible. If it’s dark when you rise, try a sunrise alarm clock or head to the window with your AM cup of java, look outside for a few moments. Allow your eyes to be exposed to natural light, even if isn’t quite bright enough yet (be sure never to look directly into the sun).
 
If you work at desk, whether at home or in the office, try sitting near a window, if possible, consider desktop light therapy, and walk outside after eating lunch! The former is a powerful biohack that we will keep repeating all year long! It is invaluable as a mental health break, as it manages post-prandial blood glucose and helps you sleep better at night by syncing your CR.

What What You Consume
 
In conjunction with your concierge physician, consider eating within a time restricted window during daylight hours.
 
How quickly you metabolize caffeine is genetic, so you know best if it stimulates you and keeps you awake at night. If it does, have your last dose of caffeine 8 hours from your planned bedtime, half of it should be metabolized by then.
 
Myth buster! There is very little actual caffeine in chocolate. If you find chocolate stimulating, it is likely the effect of theobromine, a component of the cacao bean and in highest concentration in dark chocolate.
 
Consider ditching the night cap. Alcohol may help you fall asleep faster, but can disrupt your sleep through the night, causing you to wake up and interfering with the deep restorative stages of sleep.

Nighttime Blue Light
 
As the night draws to a close, you can start to dim the artificial lights. This means:

• Dimming the overhead lights
• Reducing screen time or adjusting the brightness after a certain hour and logging off altogether 1-2 hours prior to bedtime
• Ditch the TV. Instead, try reading a good old fashioned paper book or journaling

See you next week as we carry on our mini resolution to sleep better!

Good morning, happy Monday, and welcome to week 4 of our SLEEP BETTER mini resolution!
 
We hope you’ve been trying one of our curated sleep tips each week and tracking the hours spent in bed each night.
 
Today we’re discussing ways to get out of sleep debt.


CCP helps you stay on track!
 
Use our log to to track your progress toward our mini resolution. This month, we encourage you to try one sleep tip per week. Log which tip you selected and the result(s) you experienced.
 
For questions or assistance, email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele McCambridge: 
mmccambridge@ccpmd.com

Balance Your Sleep Spreadsheet and Stay Out of Sleep Debt

Sleep debt is the difference between hours of sleep needed and hours actually slept. Let’s say, for example, your body’s requirement for sleep is seven hours, but you get six hours of sleep. That means you are in sleep debt for one hour.
 
Everyone has different requirements for sleep. The figure is unique to the individual and is genetically determined—it's that sweet spot of sleep where you awaken refreshed and have energy throughout the day. Your individual need for sleep is best determined in a time and place where you can fall asleep when tired and wake up without an alarm (like camping under the stars!).
 
Try this Sleep Debt Calculator for a glimpse at the over/under of your sleep. While the calculator may indicate you are oversleeping, today’s focus is on sleep debt (how much sleep you may be losing over time). Whether you’re falling short or sleeping longer than expected, consider speaking with your physician if you regularly struggle with low energy or if fatigue is affecting your daily life.

Can you get out of sleep debt?
 
Recent research uninspiringly says the answer is: sort of...
 
Research has shown that it can take four days to recover from one hour of sleep debt.
 
If you have had a night of lost sleep, your best strategy is to go to bed a little earlier each evening. In theory, this should be doable because your sleep pressure should be high at your next bedtime. However, it is not advisable to rely on “sleep bulimia,” where you “binge and purge” on sleep (discussed last week) as your regular practice. The important distinction is between a pattern of daily reliance use vs. occasional use.  

Can naps help us recover from sleep debt?
 
Yes, a nap might help but it is the same rationale: occasional use vs. a detrimental habit. If you are in sleep debt and need an occasional nap, here are a few things to consider:
 
Nap duration: in general, a 20-minute nap is ideal.
 
Nap timing: according to our Circadian Rhythm, the best time for a nap is roughly 5-7 hours after waking for the day.
 
Shaking off the nap: upon rising from a nap, just like in the morning, absorbing some daylight will help you to get going.



What habits increase your sleep debt exponentially?
 
 
Wrong light, wrong times. Blue light after sunset will delay your sleep latency (i.e., the ability to fall asleep), keeping you tossing and turning under the covers because it keeps you alert and delays melatonin release.
 
Not exercising. As discussed last week, lack of exercise adversely affects sleep latency and efficiency by reducing sleep pressure.
 
Alcohol consumption. While a nightcap may help you conk out faster,  alcohol will likely prevent you from entering the deeper/later stages of sleep,  waking you in the middle of the night, and increasing sleep debt.

PRO TIP: The best habits for minimizing sleep debt? Increase sleep pressure and honor your Circadian Rhythm.
 
We’ll see you next week for a discussion about “sleep architecture.”

Happy Monday, and welcome to week 3 of our SLEEP BETTER mini resolution! We hope you’ve risen today feeling well rested.
 
Don’t forget to try one of our curated sleep tips each week, and track the hours spent in bed each night.
 
Today we’re discussing sleep pressure, our body’s need for sleep.


CCP helps you stay on track!

Use our log to to track your progress toward our mini resolution. This month, we encourage you to try one sleep tip per week. Log which tip you selected and the result(s) you experienced. 

For questions or assistance, email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele McCambridge:  
mmccambridge@ccpmd.com

Sleep Pressure: The Need for Sleep


As we mentioned last week, the two primary drivers impacting alertness and sleepiness at the right times of day are the Circadian Rhythm (CR) and sleep pressure. Sleep pressure is our need for sleep and is driven by the neurotransmitter, adenosine.

Sleep pressure is typically lowest in the morning, after an evening of sleep and highest at night after a busy day. Adenosine is the neurotransmitter responsible for sleep drive. It accumulates in the cells during the day, inducing sleepiness at night and is metabolized during sleep to encourage wakefulness.

Essentially, the “pressure” for sleep rises as the day progresses and adenosine rises in our cells.


How can we increase sleep pressure so we can fall asleep at bedtime? 

Avoid or limit naps.
Many people don’t realize that napping can destroy sleep pressure. While they can be an effective tool to refresh the brain and body on occasion when we haven’t slept, naps actually reduce sleep pressure and become a problem when they replace and interfere with a good night’s sleep.

Napping creates a vicious cycle of not sleeping, napping to recover and then not sleeping because you napped! Consistently relying on naps to make up for lost sleep is a sign of a deeper, underlying issue to be discussed with a healthcare professional. 


Keep a consistent sleep schedule.
It is not unusual for people in today’s busy world to binge and purge on sleep, a habit known as “sleep bulimia.” In other words, they skimp on sleep most days (purge) and catch up when they can (binge). This may be a quick fix to offset sleep debt (discussed next week!), but as a regular habit it can lead to social jetlag or a misaligned Circadian Rhythm. 

The body prefers consistency, which means going to bed at the same time, and rising at the same time each day. Your body will reward your consistent sleep schedule with high sleep pressure at your chosen bedtime to help you fall asleep faster.


Exercise.
Exercise is so powerful at reducing sleep latency, improving sleep quality, and it is considered a valuable non-pharmaceutical weapon against sleeplessness. Why is that? 

Exercise promotes the secretion of adenosine!

The relationship between sleep and exercise is bi-directional, meaning exercise helps you sleep better and sleeping better helps you have the energy to exercise. Conversely, not exercising will prevent sleep pressure from building, interfering with your sleep and not sleeping will leave you without the energy to perform.


Be mindful of what you consume and when.

Caffeine
Caffeine blocks adenosine which is important for increasing sleep pressure. The half-life of caffeine is 12 hours, meaning half the caffeine from your 8 AM cup of coffee is still in your bloodstream at 8 PM! So, take into consideration the timing of your last cup of caffeine.

Sugar
Sugar and sleep also possess a bi-directional relationship, meaning excessive sugar consumption will impair sleep, and impaired sleep will increase sugar consumption—ugh! Why is that?

Studies show consuming excessive sugar leads to longer sleep latency and worsened efficiency.

One theory is that sugar decreases magnesium absorption while also increasing its excretion. Magnesium is considered one of nature’s many valiums and is helpful for sleep. When you don’t sleep well, the body makes more hunger hormone (ghrelin), less satiety hormone (leptin) and the endocannabinoid system (munchies) is activated, leading you to consume on average 400 – 600 extra calories a day... typically in the form of sugar for energy.

Chocolate
Some people are stimulated by chocolate, mistakenly thinking that it contains caffeine, but there is a very small amount of caffeine in chocolate. Chocolate possesses a substance known as theobromine, which can also block adenosine.

Alcohol
While an alcoholic drink may help you fall asleep faster, it will keep you up later in the night, reducing the total hours slept and will also impair entry into REM.


That’s all for now! Don’t forget to check out our sleep tips and log your sleep each day. Visit our blog if you need to backtrack on past issues. 

We’ll see you next week for a discussion about “sleep debt.”

​Happy Monday and welcome to week 2 of our first mini resolution for 2026: sleep better!
 
We hope you tried at least one tip last week and are feeling its positive effects! As a reminder, during this 7-week mini resolution, we’ll be reviewing tips tools and strategies to help improve your sleep, and we encourage you to try one of our curated sleep tips each week, and track the hours spent in bed each night.
 
Read on for more on the circadian rhythm: a powerful force driving our sleep.




CCP helps you stay on track!
 
Use our log to to track your progress toward our mini resolution. This month, we encourage you to try one sleep tip per week. Log which tip you selected and the result(s) you experienced.
 
For questions or assistance, email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele McCambridge:
 
mmccambridge@ccpmd.com

The Circadian Rhythm: Our 24-Hour Cycle of Life

There are two primary drivers impacting alertness and sleepiness at the right times of day. One is Sleep Pressure (to be addressed next week) and the other is the Circadian Rhythm (CR), the body’s master biological clock.
 
The circadian rhythm is the 24-hour cycle that drives the physiology of being alive. It oversees sleep, behavior, hormone levels, body temperature, digestion and metabolism. It is typically generated internally but can be modulated by external cues, such as sunlight, feeding schedules and temperature. The brain’s hypothalamus is responsible for synchronizing the circadian rhythm.
 
Fun fact! Newborns do not have a circadian rhythm. It takes the first 2-3 months of life to entertain the circadian rhythm.
 
Interestingly, most of the body’s cells and tissues have their own CR, which can become dysregulated if the master clock is out of sync.
 
When aligned with external cues, the CR functions to ensure body functions occur at optimal times of day for peak health. But our well-being is affected when there is a temporary mismatch between our external environment and the master clock.

Evidence continues to link a misaligned CR with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). A misaligned CR contributes to AD pathology and AD further disrupts the CR. While not enough to cause the disease alone, as AD is multifactorial in nature, a misaligned CR contributes to the disease by driving neuro-inflammation, promoting gut dysbiosis and increasing oxidative stress.


A Primitive System in Modern Times

Sunlight is the primary regulatory driver of the CR. For modern humans, this circadian rhythm misalignment between lifestyle and rhythm is driven by our exposure to the wrong amounts and types of light, at the wrong times of day.
 
The circadian rhythm is one of our many primitive physiological systems that has not adapted to modern living. Cavepeople rose with the dawn and slept with the sunset. Their days were spent outside and any light exposure at night was fireside. It is specifically the exposure to the blue spectrum of bright daylight in the AM and midday that drives wakefulness through cortisol secretion, and the falling darkness that stimulates the release of melatonin—the sleep hormone.
 
Our bodies still require this type and timing of light exposure to function optimally. However, many of us now rise before the sun, spend most of our days indoors, and go to sleep long after the sun has set with long hours of exposure to blue light from our electronics throughout the day and well into the evening. This is a recipe for circadian rhythm disaster.
 
How can we balance modern living with our primitive physiology?
 
The best way to reset our circadian rhythm is a week of camping under the stars, but we realize this isn’t exactly practical for our purposes here. So instead, let’s focus on what we can control in our day-to-day lives, via light exposure.

Right Light at the Right Time

Expose yourself to daylight at least twice per day.
 
Start with exposure to first-day sun. It is ideal to nab a 10–15-minute walk outside once the sun is up. If you don’t have the time or if the weather isn’t conducive to outdoor activities, then try standing in front of a window and looking outdoors for a few minutes for a meaningful impact on the hypothalamus. Importantly, you should never look directly into the sun.
 
Light is measured in lux units. The approximate lux of the midday sun is 100,000 units and the lux of a typical office is 100 – 2,000 units—quite a difference! Walking outside for 10–15 minutes after lunch will not only trick the hypothalamus, but it will also have the added benefit of controlling post-prandial blood glucose and provide you with a mental health break. (This bio-hack is very powerful, and we will repeat it often throughout the year.)
If getting outside during peak blue daylight hours is not possible, light therapy is an option. Try Googling "Light Therapy Options," to research an indoor light that can simulate daylight.
 
Curious to know the lux units in your office or home? Google “Lux Meter App Free” and see what is suitable for your device.
 
 
Minimize your evening blue light exposure.
 
All exposure to light after the sun sets affects the hypothalamus and melatonin production (the sleep hormone), but it is the blue light of our electronics that is especially harmful. Sunlight has strong blue light in its spectrum and is strongest from early AM to midday, primitively intended to produce the greatest amount of wakefulness in humans for productivity and safety. Unfortunately, for the purpose of energy conservation, in 1992 our electronics switched from a green light spectrum to a blue light spectrum. Thus, we are kept alert however long we spend on our phones/devices, and melatonin release is delayed and diminished.

We understand eliminating our devices is not a practical solution, but there are options for minimizing the impact they have:

Adjust your device settings. Try Googling your specific device to see if you have factory settings installed that allow you to adjust the display spectrum from cool blues to warmer reds. If not, consider searching your app store “Blue Light Filters” for your specific device selections.
 
Try blue light glasses. Since blue light is virtually ubiquitous, even present in our TVs and in artificial lighting, it may be more effective to purchase a pair of blue light blocking glasses to wear after the sun sets.
 
Shut it down before bed. This third option is our favorite. Simply shut it all down an hour before bedtime and dim the lights, read instead of watching TV, and recharge your devices in another room.

Beyond controlling our light exposure, you may also consider these tips for realigning your circadium rhythm:


Eat only during daylight hours, also known as time restricted feeding (TRF). As previously mentioned, feeding schedules can also be an external cue to the CR. By limiting meals during daylight hours, we strengthen the alignment of the master clock and the CR in the cells and tissues of the GI.
 
Move more! An interesting study found that, statistically speaking, significant associations between declining cognitive function and misaligned CRs became insignificant when total physical activity in participants was accounted for!

That’s all for now! Don’t forget to check out our sleep tips and log your sleep each day. Visit our blog if you need to backtrack on past issues.
 
We’ll see you next week for a deep dive into increasing sleep pressure.

INTRODUCING YOUR NEW MINI RESOLUTION: SLEEP BETTER!
 
Over the next 7 weeks, we will explore sleep quality variables in detail, and provide tips, tools and strategies to help improve your sleep. For our 7-week sleep resolution, we encourage you to try one of our curated sleep tips each day, and track the hours spent in bed each night. If you have a sleep tracker, you can log actual hours slept.
​
CCP helps you stay on track!
 
Use our log to to track your progress toward our mini resolution. This month, we encourage you to try one sleep tip per week. Log which tip you selected and the result(s) you experienced.
 
For questions or assistance, email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele McCambridge:
 
mmccambridge@ccpmd.com

Sleep and the Brain

No one really knows why we sleep. Numerous theories exist, but the exact reason remains mysterious. It is, however, established that sleep is critical for brain health and life, as absolute sleep deprivation can lead to death.
 
The brain is the command center for the 30 trillion cells a human possesses. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, it works tirelessly to execute every single biological and chemical function in every cell in the human body, mostly without conscious thought because the activity occurs in the autonomic nervous system. MRIs have established that sleep disturbances lead to structural changes in the brain similar to aging, and these changes are implicated in the development and worsening of a litany of health conditions, including neurodegeneration.

Sleep is so important to brain health it is considered an important preventive strategy and therapeutic intervention for AD.
 


Sleep disruptions are considered a predictive, preclinical symptom of neurodegenerative conditions, and up to 45% of those diagnosed with neurodegenerative conditions experience sleep disturbances. What remains unclear, however, is the temporal relationship. Specifically, does AD cause sleep dysregulation or does sleep dysregulation lead to AD? For now, it is considered a bi-directional relationship, a cycle of AD affecting sleep and lack of sleep affecting AD.
 
The Global Council on Brain Health recommends 7-8 hours of sleep a night to preserve brain health; but studies have also found sleeping 9 or more hours a night is equally detrimental, indicating an inverted U-shaped relationship for sleep and cognitive health.
 
While sleep goals are generally measured in hours, the quality of sleep is what is truly important—it is just harder to quantify in studies. The variables that define sleep quality include time to fall asleep, hours spent asleep vs. time in bed, frequency of nocturnal awakenings, achieving restorative sleep stages, and rising feeling refreshed. If you’re interested in diving deeper, those metrics can be gleaned by wearing a sleep tracker.

“Sleep is of the Brain, by the Brain and for the Brain.”
 
Here’s some of what we currently understand about sleep and the brain:

Sleep is so critical that it is considered an important preventive strategy and therapeutic intervention for Alzheimer’s Disease. Recommended interventions for improving sleep include cognitive behavioral therapy, exercise, socialization, melatonin and light therapy. Much of what we will cover here this month will include behavioral strategies.
 
Sleep is induced by neurons (brain cells).
 
Habitual napping by adults is linked to cognitive disorders.
 
Those who habitually use sleeping pills are at high risk for neurodegenerative conditions (one study places the risk of developing dementia for sleeping pill users at 80%). Sleeping pills are NOT considered the first line of defense in older adults with sleep disorders.
 
It is well established that we consolidate and strengthen our memories during sleep. The two cognitive domains most affected by sleep loss are attention and memory.
 
Sleep loss leads to activation of the fight or flight system, thereby increasing cortisol and blood pressure. Activation of the fight or flight system also weakens the immune system, which leads to an increase in oxidative stress and permeability of the blood brain barrier. Metabolic health is also impacted, leading to insulin resistance. One of the magical functions of sleep is to reduce metabolites from the brain. Essentially, sleep detoxifies the brain via the glymphatic system.
 
Inflammatory biomarkers indicative of systemic inflammation have been identified in those reporting sleep disturbances.

Sleep and Exercise
 
Interestingly, a bi-directional relationship exists between sleep and exercise:

Exercise resyncs the circadian rhythm.
 
Exercise promotes sleep by regulating the central nervous system, endocrine system, metabolism and body temperature.
 
As people age, they tend to spend less time in the critical later sleep stages, but people who exercise spend more time in these later stages of sleep than those who do not exercise.
 
People who exercise have an enhanced “rest and digest” system, which is the counter to the “fight or flight” system, improving both sleep and mood.
 
Exercise can reverse cognitive decline induced by lack of sleep.



There’s much to understand about sleep and how we measure sleep quality. Below is a quick glossary of related terms, many of which we’ll explore in later weeks of our Sleep Better mini resolution.

 
A Glossary of Sleep Terms
 
Circadian Rhythm: the 24-hour life cycle of an organism. The CR is most affected by lightness and darkness and impacts physical, mental and behavioral changes within the organism. We’ll talk more about the circadian rhythm in our 2/9 edition of our Sleep Better mini resolution.
 
Sleep Pressure: the pressure to sleep. It is lowest upon rising each morning, builds throughout the day and is highest at night. We’ll talk more about sleep pressure on 2/16!
 
Sleep Debt: the difference between the amount of sleep needed and the amount of sleep achieved. We’ll address sleep debt on 2/23.
 
Sleep Architecture: the basic pattern of normal sleep, divided into REM and non-REM sleep. We’ll talk about sleep architecture on 3/9.
 
Adenosine: a neurotransmitter that promotes sleep pressure. High amounts of adenosine promote sleep pressure.
 
Sleep Efficiency: the ratio between time spent sleeping vs. time spent in bed. Sleep efficiency of 85% or greater is considered ideal.
 
Sleep Latency: the time it takes a person to fall asleep. Less than 20 minutes is ideal.
 
Glymphatic System: the waste clearance system for the central nervous system. It is most active at night during sleep. 

That’s all for now! Don’t forget to check out our sleep tips and log your sleep each day. See you next week!




The content provided is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Please also note this content is based on current research. However, new research could yield new or conflicting information.