Daylight Saving Time: Five Tips to Help You Better Adjust to the Clock Change

Why Do We Need to Adjust to Daylight Saving Time?

Daylight saving time was first implemented during the first world war to take advantage of longer daylight hours and save energy. While this made a difference when we heavily relied on coal power, today the benefits are disputed. In fact, emerging research suggests that moving the clocks twice a year has negative impacts, particularly on our health.

The Effects of Daylight Saving Time on Our Health

During the first days after the clocks change, many people suffer from symptoms such as irritability, less sleep, daytime fatigue, and decreased immune function. More worryingly, heart attacks, strokes, and workplace injuries are higher during the first weeks after a clock change compared with other weeks. There’s also a 6% increase in fatal car crashes the week we “spring forward”.

The Science Behind Daylight Saving Time

The reason time changes affect us so much is because of our body’s internal biological “clock”. This clock controls our basic physiological functions, such as when we feel hungry, and when we feel tired. This rhythm is known as our circadian rhythm, and is roughly 24 hours long.

- Advertisement -

How Our Body Clock Works

The body can’t do everything at once, so every function in the body has a specific time when it works best. For example, even before we wake up in the morning, our internal clock prepares our body for waking. It shuts down the pineal gland’s production of the sleep hormone melatonin and starts releasing cortisol, a hormone that regulates metabolism.

Disrupting Our Body Clock

Our master clock is located in a part of the brain called the hypothalamus. While all tissues and organs in the body have their own clock (known as a peripheral clock), the brain’s master clock synchronizes the peripheral clocks, making sure all tissues work together in harmony at the right time of the day. But twice a year, this rhythm is disrupted when the time changes, meaning the master clock and all the peripheral clocks become out of sync.

Five Tips to Help You Adjust to Daylight Saving Time

1. Keep your sleeping pattern regular before and after the clocks change. It’s particularly important to keep the time you wake up in the morning regular. This is because the body releases cortisol in the morning to make you more alert. Throughout the day you will become increasingly tired as cortisol levels decrease and this will limit the time change’s impact on your sleep.

2. Gradually transition your body to the new time by changing your sleep schedule slowly over a week or so. Changing your bedtime 10-15 min earlier or later each day helps your body to gently adjust to the new schedule and eases the jetlag.

3. Get some morning sunlight. Morning light helps your body adjust quicker and synchronizes your body clock faster – whereas evening light delays your clock. Morning light will also increase your mood and alertness during the day and helps you sleep better at night.

4. Avoid bright light in the evening. This includes blue light from mobile phones, tablets, and other electronics. Blue light can delay the release of the sleep hormone melatonin, and reset the internal clock to an even later schedule. A dark environment is best at bedtime.

5. Keep your eating pattern regular. Other environmental cues, such as food, can also synchronize your body clock. Research shows light exposure and food at the correct time, can help your master and peripheral clocks shift at the same speed. Keep mealtimes consistent and avoid late-night meals.

Conclusion

While any disruption to our circadian rhythm can affect our wellbeing, there are still things we can do to help our body better adjust to the new time. By following these five tips, you can minimize the negative effects of daylight saving time and stay healthy throughout the year.

FAQs

Q: Why do we need to adjust to daylight saving time?

A: Daylight saving time was first implemented during the first world war to take advantage of longer daylight hours and save energy. While this made a difference when we heavily relied on coal power, today the benefits are disputed.

Q: What are the effects of daylight saving time on our health?

A: During the first days after the clocks change, many people suffer from symptoms such as irritability, less sleep, daytime fatigue, and decreased immune function. More worryingly, heart attacks, strokes, and workplace injuries are higher during the first weeks after a clock change compared with other weeks.

Q: What can I do to adjust to daylight saving time?

A: You can help your body adjust to the new time by keeping your sleeping pattern regular, gradually transitioning your body to the new time, getting some morning sunlight, avoiding bright light in the evening, and keeping your eating pattern regular.

Q: Will we still need to adjust to daylight saving time in the future?

A: Following a Europe-wide consultation, in March 2019 the European Parliament voted in favour of removing daylight saving time. While member states will decide whether to adopt standard time (from autumn to spring) or daylight saving time (from spring to autumn) permanently, scientists are in favour of keeping to standard time, as this is when the sun’s light most closely matches when we go to work, school, and socialise.