Preparing for Daylight Saving Time: A Guide to Springing Forward

Spring Forward

After a long winter, you may be looking forward to the extended daylight in the evenings when you spring forward and switch over to daylight saving time. In the weeks prior to this switch, you're generally already enjoying the increased daylight in the mornings (compared to the winter months), which for those who need to be up relatively early in the morning, makes it much easier.

But with the clocks advancing one hour, not only do you lose an hour of sleep on the initial changeover day, but you lose all the early daylight gains you have made up to that point, shifting them to the evening. Sleeping one hour less and potentially waking up in the dark can make this spring forward time shift a slightly more difficult adjustment than the fall back transition as summer comes to a close.

Adjustment Advice

With the clocks going forward, the first 'shock' as it were, will be the alarm going off a bit earlier than your body will be used to. And if you are someone needing to get up early in the morning, you might find there is less daylight to help you wake up.

1. Gradual Adjustment: Begin adjusting your wake-up time by 15-20 minutes earlier in the days leading up to the time change. For example, if you normally aim to wake up at 6am, you might want to wake up 15-20 minutes earlier per day in the 3-4 days prior to the clocks changing. This would see you waking up at 5:45am, 5:30am, and 5:15am, in the 3 days prior to the time shift.

2. Light Management: Increase exposure to natural light, especially earlier in the day to help shift your body's internal clock forward. In the first week or so after the clock shift, you will want to be really careful with bright blue light exposure in the evening (the type of light emitted from smartphones and laptops). Your usual bedtime will now be coming around a little earlier (if you normally went to bed at 10pm, you will now be going to bed at 9pm in terms of your body clock), so you don't want the stimulus of light at night delaying this. You want to get back into a good rhythm as quickly as possible.

3. Consistent Sleep Schedule: Maintain a consistent sleep schedule in the days leading up to the change and for at least a week or two after. Having inconsistent sleep and wake schedules in the days before and after the time shift will only amplify any feelings of tiredness and fatigue you may experience.

Spring Forward Emergency Reset

For those who are facing a Monday morning alarm rolling around 60-minutes earlier than it did on Friday without having undertaken any gradual adjustment process, the options for an emergency reset are a bit more limited. This assumes you don't have the option to sleep in an extra hour for the week and slowly step the alarm call back to the correct time.

Perhaps the best strategy is to get up as soon as the alarm goes off and get the blinds open, or get yourself into as much bright light as you can. It is this bright light exposure that will help to recalibrate your body clock to the new time. If you hit snooze and pull the duvet over your head, you are only reinforcing the old wake up time.

Light alarms are a good option for those who want to invest in a bit of tech to help with the seasonal time adjustment. Similarly, using a therapeutic light to have your morning coffee and breakfast next to can be helpful for those who are particularly sensitive.

A somewhat less palatable option for many would be to wake up even earlier! We sleep in approximately 90-minute cycles, and the problem with the 60-minute time shift as the clocks change is that 60-minutes is not 90-minutes. If you were well adjusted to your previous wake up time, chances are you were awake or nearly awake when the alarm went off. Now the alarm is going off when you are in the middle of a sleep cycle.

You could try setting your alarm for 30-minutes earlier than you otherwise would. The 60-minute clock change for daylight saving plus this additional 30-minutes adds up to 90-minutes, and it might be easier to wake up. For example, waking up at 5:30am instead of 6am. You can then take a few days to gradually 'sleep in' until you have recalibrated to the new time.

And if the earlier starts are really testing your focus, and you have the option, a short 20-minute nap later in the day can help offset the daylight saving sluggishness until you are resynced again.

Conclusion

It's important to recognise the significance of maintaining consistency in sleep patterns and daily schedules. Even a one-hour shift forward into daylight saving time can have a notable impact on our overall wellbeing, affecting mood, alertness, and cognitive function.

Navigating the transition into daylight saving time requires mindfulness and a proactive approach to mitigate the effects. By following the practical steps for adjusting sleep schedules, managing exposure to light, and prioritising self-care, you can ease the transition and minimise disruption to your routine.

While the adjustment period may pose challenges, it's essential to approach it with patience and understanding, knowing that the adjustment period is relatively short and temporary.

Source: The Synergy Health Editorial Team via GoodForYou.