The Creativity Clock: How Daylight Savings Affects Creative Energy
In honor of the time change today I wanted to cover how Daylight Savings affects creatives!
Have you ever noticed that your brain feels different after we change our clocks? Twice a year, many of us spring forward or fall back, adjusting our schedules by a single hour. While this might seem like a small change, it can have a big impact on how we think, feel, and create. This is especially true for people who rely on their creativity for work or hobbies. Whether you're an artist, writer, musician, or just someone who enjoys creative activities, the shift in daylight can affect when and how your best ideas come to you!
When the Clocks Change, So Does Your Brain
Our bodies have natural rhythms that follow the sun. These rhythms affect when we feel sleepy, hungry, alert, or creative. When daylight savings time begins or ends, these rhythms get disrupted. Even though it's just one hour, our bodies can take days or even weeks to adjust. During this time, you might notice changes in your creative energy.
Many people report feeling foggy-headed or having trouble concentrating after the time change. This is because our internal body clocks (called circadian rhythms) are sensitive to light and time. When we suddenly change our schedules, our brains need time to catch up. It's like experiencing a mild form of jet lag without traveling anywhere!
For creative people, this adjustment period can be particularly challenging. Creativity often requires a clear mind and the ability to make unexpected connections between ideas. When your brain is busy trying to figure out why you're waking up or going to bed at a different time relative to the sun, it might have less energy available for creative thinking.
Morning Creators vs. Night Owls: How Shifting Daylight Affects Different Types
People tend to have natural preferences for when they do their best creative work. Some are morning people who wake up with fresh ideas and energy. Others are night owls who find their creative groove after the sun goes down. Daylight savings time affects these two groups differently.
For morning creators, springing forward in March can be especially difficult. Suddenly, they're waking up in darkness instead of light, and their bodies might resist getting up at the new time. This can delay the start of their creative routine and make their peak creative hours feel out of sync. On the other hand, when we fall back in November, morning people often get a boost from having more light in the early hours, which can enhance their creative sessions.
Night owls experience the opposite effects. When we spring forward, they might find it easier to stay up working because darkness comes later. This extended evening light can be energizing for people who do their best work after dinner. But when we fall back in autumn, the earlier sunset can trigger sleepiness sooner, potentially cutting short their most productive creative time.
Your Personal Creativity Clock: Understanding Your Daily Creative Peaks
Did you know that your creativity might naturally spike at specific times during the day or night? Research suggests that most people experience predictable patterns in their creative energy. These patterns are connected to your body temperature, hormone levels, and alertness—all of which fluctuate throughout the day.
For many people, there are two main creative peaks during the day. The first often occurs in the late morning, after your brain has fully woken up but before lunch makes you sleepy. During this time, you might be best at focused, analytical creative work that requires attention to detail—like editing, refining ideas, or solving specific creative problems.
The second creative peak tends to happen in the late afternoon or early evening. This is when many people experience what scientists call "reduced inhibitory control"—basically, your brain becomes less strict about which ideas it considers. This state can be perfect for brainstorming, coming up with new ideas, or making unusual connections between concepts.
There's also a fascinating phenomenon that happens when you're tired. While being exhausted usually isn't good for creativity, a slightly tired brain can sometimes be more creative in certain ways. When your brain is a bit fatigued, it might not filter out "weird" ideas as quickly, allowing for more original thinking. This is why some people have their best ideas right before falling asleep or early in the morning when they're still a bit groggy.
How to Track Your Creative Rhythms
If you're curious about your own creative patterns, try keeping a creativity journal for a few weeks. Write down when you work on creative projects and rate how productive, focused, and innovative you felt during each session. Look for patterns in when you feel most creative and when your work seems to flow most easily.
You might discover that you have very specific times when different types of creative work come more naturally. For example, you might be best at generating new ideas in the evening but better at organizing and developing those ideas in the morning. Or you might find that you have a strong creative surge right after exercise or after your afternoon coffee.
Understanding these patterns can help you schedule your creative work more effectively. Instead of fighting against your natural rhythms, you can plan to do specific types of creative work when your brain is naturally primed for them. For example, I know that my best creative work happens around the middle of the day (and more frustratingly, right before bed!). I tend to do all of my focused and more analytical work in the morning leaving the afternoon and evenings for more creative tasks. By keeping a creativity journal, I have started to notice the natural spikes in my own creativity and can better plan out my tasks for the day and use my natural rhythm to my advantage. Click the link here to download the template I use!
Adapting to the Time Change: Tips for Keeping Your Creativity Flowing
When daylight savings time disrupts your usual creative rhythm, there are several things you can do to help your brain adjust more quickly and protect your creative energy:
Gradually shift your schedule. A few days before the time change, start adjusting your sleep and wake times by 15-20 minutes each day. This gives your body a chance to adapt more slowly rather than making the full hour change overnight. Get morning sunlight. Light exposure in the morning helps reset your body clock. Try to get outside for at least 10-15 minutes of natural light shortly after waking up, especially in the days following the time change. Maintain regular creative routines. Even if you don't feel as creative as usual, stick with your regular creative practice. Sometimes showing up is half the battle, and your creativity may kick in once you get started.
Be patient with yourself. Recognize that you might not be at your creative best for a week or so after the time change. Plan simpler creative tasks during this adjustment period and save your most challenging creative work for when you've fully adapted to the new schedule. Use light strategically. Bright light can help you stay alert and focused. If you're a morning creator during dark winter mornings, consider using a light therapy lamp to simulate sunrise. If you're a night owl fighting earlier darkness in the fall, make sure your creative space is well-lit to keep your energy up.
How Different Creative Fields Are Affected by Daylight Shifts
Different types of creative work may be more or less sensitive to changes in daylight and time. Visual artists, for example, often rely heavily on natural light and may find their work particularly disrupted by seasonal time changes. Many painters and photographers plan their work around the "golden hours" of early morning and late afternoon when natural light has specific qualities. When these times suddenly shift, it can throw off carefully planned creative schedules.
Writers and musicians, on the other hand, might be less dependent on specific lighting conditions but more affected by changes in their energy levels and mental clarity. Many writers report that their word count and quality of writing fluctuates with the seasons and time changes.
For collaborative creative fields like filmmaking, theater, or band rehearsals, the time change can create logistical challenges as team members adjust to the new schedule at different rates. Someone who adapts quickly might be frustrated by teammates who are still feeling the effects of the time change days later.
Embracing the Shift: When Time Changes Spark New Creative Directions
While the disruption of daylight savings time can be challenging, it can also provide unexpected creative benefits. Sometimes, shaking up our routines forces us to see things differently. Many artists and creative thinkers report that periods of disruption—like traveling, changing schedules, or experiencing new environments—can lead to creative breakthroughs.
The changing light and shift in schedule might inspire new themes in your work or help you notice details you hadn't seen before. A photographer might discover interesting shadows that only appear at a specific time now visible due to the clock change. A writer might find that being awake at a different relative time leads to new ideas or perspectives.
Some creative people even use the time change as an opportunity to experiment with new creative schedules. If you've always been a night owl but find yourself waking up earlier after falling back in November, you might discover the joys of morning creativity. Or if you've always worked in the morning but find yourself alert later in the day after springing forward in March, you might tap into a new evening creative session.
Finding Your Rhythm in a Changing World
Whether you love or hate daylight savings time, understanding how it affects your creative energy can help you work with the changes rather than against them. By paying attention to your body's natural rhythms and being flexible with your creative practice, you can maintain your creative flow even as the clocks and seasons change. Remember that creativity isn't a constant state—it ebbs and flows naturally throughout the day and year. The key is to recognize your patterns and create conditions that support your best work, whatever time the clock happens to show.
So the next time we spring forward or fall back, take a moment to check in with your creative energy. How does the changing light affect your imagination? When do your best ideas come to you now? By asking these questions and adjusting accordingly, you can keep your creativity ticking no matter how the hands on the clock move.
Creative Challenge: Embrace the Time Change
The next time daylight savings occurs, try this simple creativity-boosting activity to turn the time shift into an opportunity for fresh inspiration:
The "New Hour, New View" Challenge
What you'll need:
A notebook or sketchpad
Your favorite creative tools (pens, pencils, camera, musical instrument, etc.)
15 minutes during the newly shifted hour
How it works:
During the week after the time change, set aside 15 minutes during an hour that "feels different" (for example, if you normally wouldn't be awake at 6 AM, but now you are because of the time change).
During this time, observe your surroundings with fresh eyes. Notice the quality of light, the sounds, and how your body feels during this unfamiliar hour.
Create something—anything—inspired by this new temporal perspective. Write a short poem or paragraph, sketch what you see, take a photograph, or compose a brief melody.
In your notebook, jot down how this creative session felt different from your usual creative time.
Share your creation on social media with the hashtag #NewHourNewView or #TimeChangeCreativity if you feel inspired to do so!
This exercise helps you embrace the disruption of daylight savings time rather than fighting against it. By intentionally creating during an hour that feels unusual to you, you might discover new creative approaches or perspectives that you can incorporate into your regular practice.
I'd love to hear about your experiences with this challenge! Leave a comment below sharing what you created during your "new hour" and how the time change affected your creative process.
Don’t forget to download the creativity tracker through the button below as well!
