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The clock can be changed It throws you for a loop. Even a one-hour shift, as happened in much of the United States on Sunday, can leave you feeling groggy and out of tune for days. This is because your body’s internal clock — your circadian rhythm — depends on daylight, meal times, and a consistent routine. When the country’s time changes come twice a year, it disrupts that rhythm and leaves your body trying to catch up.
The good news is that with a few simple habits, you can help your body recover quickly and reset your sleep schedule naturally after a time change. Follow these tips to get back into the groove and start feeling like yourself again after those hours change.
What is daylight saving time?
In the United States, most countries switch between standard time and daylight saving time (DST) in November and March. Standard time is the “normal” clock time used in the fall and winter, while daylight saving time is the one-hour shift in the spring and summer that shifts daylight from morning to evening.
Every year, the clocks move forward one hour in March, and we lose an hour of sleep. Then the clocks go back in November, setting us back. The idea is to maximize daylight hours for work and play in the warmer months.
Daylight saving time It began during World War I as a way to save energy. More daylight in the evening meant less need for artificial lighting, which was in short supply at the time. It was also believed to help farmers by giving them extra daylight in the evening. However, since farm work follows the sun, not the clock, it often makes their schedules more complicated.
More than a century later, most Americans still follow the same rituals. Exceptions include Hawaii and most of Arizona, where plenty of daylight and desert heat make time changes more inconvenient than helpful.
Why does time change so chaotically with your body clock?
We tend to focus on how long we sleep, but consistency is just as important, says Rebecca Robbins, a sleep researcher at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. “Just as important as sleep duration, if not more so, is consistency of sleep schedules,” she says. “Even one hour of change can be enough to throw off our inner circles.”
Your circadian rhythm depends on cues such as lights, meals, and routine. Light is extremely important here, because it suppresses melatonin, the hormone that tells your brain it’s time to sleep. When daylight changes, hormones change too.
This rhythm leads to much more than just fatigue. It regulates digestion, alertness, mood, and even the immune response. When you move forward, you force your body clock out of sync with your environment. Backing off is easier, because the extra hour of sleep and morning light usually helps your rhythm adjust more easily.
Health costs of sleep loss
The effect of time shifts can appear almost immediately. “Car accidents, heart attacks, cardiovascular consequences, mood disorders — all of these things tend to stay elevated throughout the duration of daylight saving time,” says neurologist and sleep specialist W. Chris Winter at the Department of Neurology and Sleep Medicine in Charlottesville. A Study from the University of Colorado It found that fatal car accidents in the United States rise by about 6 percent in the week following the spring switch to daylight saving time.
Most Americans already suffer from a lack of sleep. “Only 30% of Americans consistently report that they meet their biological needs for sleep,” Robbins says. The lost hour doubles this debt.