To better understand what circadian rhythms mean to athletes, I interviewed Dr. Allison Brager. She is a neurobiologist that specializes in circadian rhythms, sleep, and behavioral genetics research. She is currently the Deputy Chief Science Officer at the JFK Special Warfare Center and School leading the Special Forces research into human performance. Dr. Brager is also an elite athlete herself. She was a professional crossfit team athlete and an 11x gay games gold medalist. Allison serves on the NCAA task force for Mental Health and Sleep and was a contributor to the NCAA student athlete mental health handbook. She is also the author of Meathead: Unraveling the athletic brain. In this episode, we touch on the purpose the circadian rhythm serves, the things that can disrupt it, and how we can help to regulate during travel and stressful situations. We also touch on how Dr. Brager turns her research into practice in her athletic pursuits. 00:00:00 Intro 00:04:34 Circadian Rhythms Basics 00:20:29 What Disrupts Circadian Rhythms 00:33:21 Pac 12 Move 00:39:16 Sleep Depravation vs Phase Shift 00:44:51 Behavioral Genetics 00:53:17 Tradeoffs for Athletes 01:00:43 Lactic Acid 01:06:11 Meathead Allison's Resources: https://www.instagram.com/docjockzzz/?hl=en Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire - https://qxmd.com/calculate/calculator_829/morningness-eveningness-questionnaire-meq https://humsci.stanford.edu/feature/sleep-experts-share-strategies-minimize-jet-lags-effects-college-athlete-performance-and Exponential Athlete Socials Twitter: ⁠⁠https://twitter.com/athletexpodcast Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/exponentialathlete/ LinkedIn: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-exponential-athlete-podcast Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4XmCCYsVVOVmRavFYT5b1C Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-exponential-athlete/id1726985417 Website: https://exponentialathlete.co/ Affiliates: Track your health data with Whoop. Get 1 month free - join.whoop.com/exponentialathlete