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Adjusting to the daylight saving time switch can be toughest for night owls and people who are sleep-deprived.
For many Americans, the switch to daylight saving time is an annual rite of exhaustion. Gaining that extra hour of daylight at night means losing it in the morning.
The time shift disrupts the body's natural circadian rhythm, according to sleep scientists. So the alarm clock blares just as your internal sleep-wake cycle orders you to stay snugly in bed.
It's always harder to adjust to the "spring ahead" time change (as we did Sunday morning) than to the "fall back" change (on November 4), just as it's harder to fly east than west. Circadian rhythms are likely genetically determined and not fully understood.
But research shows that the natural sleep-wake cycle is slightly longer than 24 hours. Therefore, "the circadian clock prefers us to extend our sleep in the morning when permitted," making it easier to stay asleep later than to fall asleep earlier, said Dr. James Wyatt, a specialist in sleep disorders at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and a spokesman for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
Genetic traits also determine your chronotype -- whether you are a night owl or a morning lark. Owls tend to have more difficulty with the daylight-saving shift, Wyatt said.
People vary greatly in their reactions to the sleep deprivation prompted by the time change. Some 70 to 80 percent of people aren't significantly bothered, said Dr. Shyam Subramanian, director of the sleep center at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, and can adjust successfully in a day or two. Others yawn their way through the week.
For them, the consequences can be grave. Rates of workplace and traffic accidents, as well as of heart attacks, rise in the days following the spring time change. One study showed a nearly 6 percent rise in workplace injuries on the Monday after the daylight-saving switch.
People already sleep-deprived are likely to have the toughest time. "With work, school, family and social obligations, most of us carry a chronic sleep debt into the weekend," Wyatt said.
Wyatt and other researchers say people then spend the weekend trying to catch up. Even if they go to bed earlier, they can't easily fight their circadian rhythm. So they end up lying awake.
Though some argue that the time change is "just an hour," that amount of time is not insignificant, said Phyllis Zee, a professor at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., who is president of the Sleep Research Society.
People who are nodding off will insist that they are "just resting their eyes," said Zee. "But the data shows they are impaired from an attention and safety standpoint. People are not aware of their level of impairment."
Sleep experts suggest the following tips to dealing with the time switch:
- Perk up with coffee or another caffeinated beverage in the morning; avoid caffeine in the afternoon and evening.
- Expose yourself to daylight soon after waking. Doing so helps adjust the circadian rhythm.
- Avoid bright light in the evening. Computer screens mimic daylight and throw your circadian rhythm off.
- Practice good sleep habits, with a comfy bed, a quiet room and white noise to drown out sounds if necessary.
- Be especially careful while driving or engaging in other activities requiring full alertness.
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During standard time I go to work in the dark and get off in the dark. I work in a windowless office and I find that I tend to get depressed from this. Daylight savings time is a life saver for me and I would welcome just keeping it that way!
I'm most definitely a night owl, but the time changes don't bother me at all. I have also found that the older I get, the less sleep I need, which is helpful, because the older I get, the more I have that needs to be done!
How can you expose yourself to daylight soon after waking, if the sun doesn't come up until an hour later? Right now, the sun is just coming up at 7am. After the change to daylight savings, it won't come up until 8am. I still have to get up at 6:30am though, even though the sun won't be up for an hour and a half.
I hate it. My circadian rhythm is completely flipped, but my work schedule isn't. It's hard to fall asleep before midnight or 1am. "Spring ahead" puts 1am where midnight used to be--which makes 1 or 2am the sleep threshold; however, I still need to be up at the same time regardless of DST, cutting my typical sleep from 6-7 hours to 5-6 for a couple weeks till my body/brain gets used to it.
I can get by on 5-6 for a couple days, but it gets pretty rough after that.
It's time to end the antiquated, unsupported and costly Daylight Saving. (Most people still can't even spell it correctly; you're saving daylight, not going to a bank).
"The time shift disrupts the body's natural circadian rhythm . . ." Okay, then. If this is true, can we gin up a class-action lawsuit against the government, naming those individual Congress Critters and their supporters, who have forced this unhealthy lifestyle upon us? No? Why not? The government seems to want to sue or confiscate everything else that they deem unhealthy. Basic law - government can have no powers citizens do not have, since all powers are granted/delegated by citizens. Class action lawyers, what say you?
If there's one area where the government is a pain in my neck this is it. I'd actually consider voting for a Republican who would take action to get the government out of this area of my life.
One of the best things about living in Arizona is that we don't have the DST time change here... it's wonderful!
Technology has changed the world so much, daylight savings time is an anachronism that does more harm than good. Kids are going to school in the dark in the morning and the amount of time we spend indoors (rather than going outdoors) at the end of the workday means higher electric bills, especially where air conditioning is a big part of summer weather. Get rid of the dumb thing--sewing one end of the blanket to the other end doesn't make the blanket longer or warmer.
They should just keep it DST year round. I hate "falling back" in November!!!
It's a hassle to change for me. Why don't they just change 30 min permanently and leave it be? This way, it's half way from either direction!!!!
Ah. AZ MST has it's perks. Eff springing forward and falling back.
Who really gives a crap, this has been going on for years. This is not NEWS!!!!!!!!!!
Under DST kids come home from school in the winter months and its still light out enough to go an hour without turning on electric lights.
When DST "ends" kids come home from school in the winter months and immediately turn lights on because its dark out.
Multiply those extra hours by your current Electric Rate....and by the number of people using Electricity in America.....and then refer to news articles about the increasing rates of power due to wasted use.
One or the other but quit the changes 2 times a year. It gets dark at 4 PM here in NH in the winter, I really dont care which one you choose but pick one and leave it there. This should not even be an issue. Must be Bush's fault.
It is wonderful that somebody like this DST stuff, because just for them several people die each year as a direct result of the change. I'm sure they all have felt that your lovely hour in the evening was worth it. I prefer to get stuff done outside before going to work... WHAT A CONCEPT! DST is a big problem for the elderly and children.
I'm a night owl, but I love, love, love Daylight Saving Time! Getting up in the morning is always going to be hell for me anyway, it doesn't matter if the sun is up yet or not...and I hate coming home in the dark, I have absolutely no energy to do anything. But the extra hour of daylight in the evenings makes a world of difference. I wish DST became the new standard time.
Good quality sleep is vital to our ability to restore mind and body. Much research exists suggesting that most people need about 7-8 hours per night of sleep. Typically, we need about 1 hour of restorative sleep for every 2 waking hours. Some can get by with less, some need more.
Sleep hygiene is an underrated quality of life issue. The article addresses many points well. In order to determine optimal sleep timing, start by awakening when you must. Adjust your sleep, longer or shorter, in increments of 15-30 minutes over several nights until you can awaken at the time you must without the aide of an alarm clock. Ideally, you will go to sleep and awaken the next morning at approximately the same times every single day.
For people who say they can get by on 3-4 hours of sleep, I'd wager you are taking naps during your day. And, oh, for those people who say they "fall asleep instantly," that is classic sleep deprivation!
I hate this switching twice each year!! It's such a hassle and if you have little kids it's nearly impossible to convince them it's time to go to bed while it's still light out. I just wish we'd pick one and stick with it! We are no longer an agrarian society, so there's no point in it any more.
As a native of New Jersey and as someone who has had sleeping problems since she was a child, until I retired, I always viewed this time of year as a mixed blessing. Spring and summer are coming, and I just love being able to go outside until 8 or 9 in the evening. But it always took me about three weeks to adjust to the lost hour of sleep. It gets light earlier so staying in bed, unless it's a rainy day, doesn't appeal to most people--why waste the good weather. But, as in most things in life, you have to take the good with the bad. The sleep adjustment was the price I had to pay for spring and summer. Always tried to grab a nap on the weekends while sitting on the beach.
Whaaa!!!!!. What a bunch of cry babies. Ya'll should read your pathetic comments about how 1 hr is just messing up your life. What a bunch of weak people you are. I live on 5 hrs of sleep max, sleep is over rated. Sleep 8hrs a day and you sleep 1/3 of your life away. I prefer to enjoy my life awake, thank you.