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Surviving Spring Forward<\/p>\n
I don’t know about you, but for me, this whole “spring forward” thing is awful. Some folks say that the twice-a-year tradition of “spring forward, fall back” is like time travel. I don’t mind falling back because there’s something almost romantic about the “turn back time” notion (thanks, Cher), getting that one-hour do-over and, best of all, that extra hour of sleep. But skipping an hour on a Sunday night when most of us have to work on Monday? It’s for the birds. Not only conceptually, but it actually messes with our circadian rhythms. Here are a few ways you can survive springing forward.<\/p>\n
Daylight Saving Time begins at 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 10 this year. There will be darker mornings, and brighter evenings making wake times and sleep times feel “off”. According to the New York Times, this creates a gap between your body clock, which responds to the sun, and your social clock, which is set by humans. “This mismatch in our biological clock and our environment leads to a number of non-optimal situations in our health,” Joseph Takahashi, PhD, a professor of neuroscience at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, says. And sleep is only one area that the shift to DST can disrupt: After the spring shift, car accidents, heart attacks, and ischemic strokes spike, too.<\/p>\n
Not only does DST throw us off schedule and create opportunities for other unpleasant things to happen, DST was created largely for economic reasons! According to America's Navy website, daylight saving time (DST) began in March 1918 when The Standard Time Act was passed. One of the main reasons DST was created was to create a way to save energy and to get more use out of our natural daylight. According to TIME, the first U.S. law on Daylight Saving Time went into effect on March 19, 1918, for fuel saving reasons, about a year after the country entered the war. But although the official reason was fuel saving, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was the major backer for the policy, because Americans getting off work while it was still light out meant they would be more likely to go out shopping in the evening.<\/p>\n
Sports and recreation loved DST as golf ball sales skyrocketed. Baseball was a huge early supporter, too, because there’s no artificial illumination of parks, so to get school kids and workers to ball games with the extended daylight, they have a later start time. As if selling more gasoline, golf clubs, gardening tools, sleep aids should be more important than the health and well-being of people.<\/p>\n
Let’s get ready now so it’s not quite so disruptive to our precious wake\/sleep cycles. The best way to combat the effects of DST on your sleep is to have a good foundation. “If you have excellent sleep hygiene leading up to DST, it’s an easier transition to make,” says Chris Winter, MD, author of The Sleep Solution.<\/p>\n
Adjust your clock ahead of DST<\/strong><\/p>\n To make the time jump a little easier on your body, shift both your bedtime and your wake-up time earlier by 15-minute increments in the days leading up to daylight saving time.<\/p>\n Shifting other habits to earlier times, too. Eating close to bedtime can make it harder to fall asleep, as the body is too focused on digesting to wind down for the nigh, so finish your evening meal at least two hours before bedtime. So, as you’re shift your bedtime up, do the same with your dinner schedule. Avoid caffeine for a minimum of six hours before going to bed and finish drinking alcohol several hours before bedtime. Or skip it altogether.<\/p>\n Try relaxation aids<\/strong><\/p>\n Turning in early is likely to require some active effort and planning. Find things that will help you relax as you get ready for bed can help.<\/p>\n Control light and temperature<\/strong><\/p>\n Because DST shifts sunset an hour later in the day, try to control the amount of light in your room when going to bed.<\/p>\n Practice wake-up<\/strong><\/p>\n The human body is cued to rise with the sun—only now, the sun will be coming out an hour later. To combat the groggy darkness of mornings during DST, the best thing to do is to get light into your room as soon as possible. You can do this by using a sunrise alarm clock which can shine a dawn-like light directly into your sleepy face.<\/p>\n If getting up out of bed is the problem, you could be attempting to wake up during the worst part of your sleep cycle—deep sleep, as opposed to lighter REM sleep. Try using a sleep-tracking app<\/a> which can monitor your sleep cycles and wake you at an optimal moment.<\/p>\n Force yourself to plant two feet on the ground. Get up and turn on the lights. Place your alarm clock in a spot that physically forces you to stand to turn it off.<\/p>\n Go outside \/ Move<\/strong><\/p>\n Sync your body clock with the sun with a good dose of sunlight. Take the dog for a walk, stroll around the block, or stretch on your balcony for 15 minutes first thing in the morning. This bit of outdoor activity can wake your body up and reset your body clock for the day ahead, and give you the opportunity to feel the sun, too. These 15 minutes can help reset your circadian rhythm and promote a smoother sleep and wake schedule.<\/p>\n\n
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