Daylight Savings Time: How Are You Feeling?

How many of us woke up Monday morning this week an hour earlier than the actual time because our bodies were still on Daylight Savings Time? Millions, probably.

And how many of us rejoiced when we realized we had another hour to sleep because we needed it? Millions more, probably.

As it turns out, we're not good at adjusting to the time change naturally. Daylight savings time, which affects a quarter of the world's population and entails a one-hour time change twice a year, reflects a change in social clocks--not biological ones. New studies are showing that we don't actually adjust to these changes in time so easily--especially the "spring-forward" one.

A recent European study in particular that I read about in National Sleep Foundation's Newsletter explains how people typically don't have trouble adjusting to the "fall back" we just experienced (we welcome that extra hour!), but forcing daylight savings time period between April and November prevents us from naturally adjusting to dawn during the summer and then again in autumn. Daylight savings time essentially disrupts our body's natural tracking of dawn, throwing us out of synch with the environment. The lead scientist on the study suggests this could have long-term ill effects on health. And I agree.

First, let me remind you that our internal body clocks--our circadian rhythms--are very important to us. Circadian rhythms are the patterns of repeated activity associated with the environmental cycles of day and night. They repeat roughly every 24 hours. Examples include the sleep-wake cycle, the ebb and flow of hormones, the rise and fall of body temperature, and other subtle rhythms that mesh with the 24-hour solar day. People who have trouble achieving good sleep may have an internal clock that has become out of sync or mismatched with the day-night cycle. Light has a powerful effect on setting our body clocks, which is why it's important to soak in some bright morning sunlight; it will calibrate your internal clock. In fact, if you're well rested and your circadian rhythm is on cue (i.e., it's working with your schedule) you should not even need an alarm clock to get up in the morning.

But so much of our lives now depend on unnatural signals--odd work schedules that have us working late at night or doing shift work, pre-dawn wake-up calls, drugs to keep us either asleep or awake, and soon. Unlike our caveman forbears, who let the sun dictate their day-night cycles and delineate between the hours of rest and work, we let the demands of everyday life choose when we can sleep, eat, and work. And all of this indeed has an effect on our bodies. We bear more stress, bank less sleep, pack away more fat and calories, and dare I say, deflate a high quality of life. These in turn directly relate to our risk for illness and disease. The good news is we've just gained an extra hour now that we're back on standard time. We're entering a period when the sun will go down earlier and rise when most of us need to bet getting up anyhow. This (hopefully) will encourage us to avoid working past nightfall, which can help us to wind down a bit earlier at night and prepare for a restful night's sleep.

Take note this week how you are feeling now that you've gained that delicious hour. Are you more productive? In a better mood? Hoping for another night with an extra hour? If that's the case, then make it a goal this coming month to get the sleep your body needs each and every night. Come New Year's you'll feel like a whole new person (and may even shed a few pounds along the way). If you're having difficulty adjusting to the recent time change, you can gradually move your bedtime and wake times later by 15 minutes every one to two days. This can help you stay awake at night or sleep until your desired wake up time.

Come April, you'll lose that hour again. But you can prepare for that loss just by establishing good sleep habits today. Your body clock will thank you for it.

Related Topics:

• WebMD Video: How Your Body Clock Affects Your Health
• How to Stop a Snoring Man

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