Unless you live in Hawaii or Arizona, there’s a very good chance that you have have to adjust the clocks twice a year for Daylight Savings Time.
But while it seems like a small change, a report from CNN does a lot to illustrate why those two states and all but 70 countries throughout the world have done away with the practice.
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Not only is that jolt to our circadian rhythm linked to a 6% increase of risk for fatal traffic accidents during the spring forward period of Daylight Savings Time, but the American Academy of Sleep Medicine also held it responsible for increasing cardiovascular health risks.
To address the issue, the academy has recommending abolishing Daylight Savings time in favor of the year-round standard time policies seen in Arizona and Hawaii. But since that hasn’t happened yet, here’s how you can help that spring forward feel less jarring.
Of course, it’s a lot harder to prepare for something like this when you don’t know when it’s supposed to happen.
According to The Weather Network , the change comes into effect at 2 am on Sunday, March 14.
So if you find yourself getting tired before that time hits, it’s best to set the clocks forward before you go to bed.
And while Daylight Savings Time is all fun and games when we gain an hour in the fall, it hits like a truck when we lose an hour.
As Heather Young from Good Night Sleep Site in Waterloo, Ontario told The Weather Network, “A general rule of thumb is for every hour of time change that you experience it takes about a day for our bodies to adjust. Some of the other things that can influence that are how tired you are leading into the time change or whether you are getting to bed on time each subsequent night.”
And there are some factors that can influence how tired we feel in the nights leading up to the shift as well.
Some of these mentioned by The Weather Network include avoiding caffeine and alcohol soon before we’re planning to go to bed and even using our phones and computers within an hour of bedtime.
Other factors have more to do with the room we’re actually sleeping in.
For instance, we can find that a room that lets in too much sunlight or doesn’t adequately filter outside noises is likely to cause some sleep disruption.
Temperature can also be a factor as the ideal sleeping room temperature is apparently between 66 and 71 degrees Fahrenheit.
But while heavy blinds, eye blockers, and ear plugs might help with some of these issues, some may find it harder than others to cool their rooms down. In such cases, Young suggests taking a hot bath or shower so your body temperature can dip in a way that makes sleep easier when you get out.
And even though this Daylight Savings Time adjustment is still days away, there’s a way we can prepare for it even now.
As CNN reported, it helps to go to bed 10 minutes earlier each night for each day leading up to the shift starting about a week before it happens.
Once you get to three days before the change, the increments increase to 20 minutes each night.
And if you forget until the night before, it still might help to go to bed a half hour early and sleep in for a half hour or just try to go to bed an hour early if you need to get up at your usual time.
h/t: The Weather Network , CNN
