Daylight saving time can impact your health. Here’s how you can deal with it.
If you wake up Sunday morning feeling a little less rested than normal, if your alarm seems to be ringing a bit too early and it appears to be a little darker outside than it should have been, there will be a good reason why.
At 2 a.m. Sunday, daylight saving time begins as clocks jump forward to 3 a.m. and steal away an hour of sleep.
Twice each year, once in the fall and once in the spring, most people across the U.S. have to adjust their clocks.
In every state except Hawaii and Arizona, on the first Sunday in November an hour is gained with the return to standard time.
And on the second Sunday in March the opposite happens. An hour is lost as the country marks the start of daylight saving time.
For many people, the change is simply a blip on the radar. They change their clocks — or in today’s day and age, the clocks change themselves automatically — and move on with their lives, perhaps a bit more groggy than normal for a day or two.
But for others, the changing of the clocks can cause some real issues. According to local experts, a portion of the population may feel a real, serious impact from the shift.
Struggling to sleep
Dr. Eduardo Espiridion, chair of the department of psychiatry at Reading Hospital, said most of the general public won’t have a problem adjusting to daylight saving time.
But, he said, there is a certain subset of the population who will. In particular, the shift can impact older people and those who already struggle with sleep issues.
To understand why changing the clocks may have an impact, Espiridion said it’s important to understand why people sleep.
Espiridion said there are two factors that determine why people sleep: the homeostatic sleep drive and circadian rhythms.
The homeostatic sleep drive, simply put, is the body’s internal clock telling a person it’s time to sleep.
When someone first wakes up, the drive to sleep is very low, Espiridion said. But as the day progresses it increases, causing feelings of tiredness and a desire to sleep.
Circadian rhythms are a function of the brain. They send messages to an endocrine gland to release melatonin, a hormone that makes people stay asleep.
That release, in most people, typically happens around 2 a.m., Espiridion said.
Changing the clocks can throw either the homeostatic sleep drive or circadian rhythms a bit out of whack, Espiridion said. It’s similar to experiencing jet lag, he said, with the brain and body trying to adjust to a new set of circumstances.
“We have ways to adjust or adapt,” Espiridion said. “Some people may take as much as a week, but they get adapted.
“But there is a set of people that have trouble with it.”
Espiridion said that as people age, their ability to release melatonin decreases. That’s why older people often have trouble sleeping late.
Changing the clocks can exacerbate that, he said.
The same can be true for people already dealing with sleep issues, he said.
“If you already have issues and we have the change to daylight saving time, you could be more susceptible to the change,” he said. “When we move forward, people with sleep issues will have less sleep. And that one hour can really cause some issues.”
The impact
A lack of quality sleep can have a major impact on a person’s health, particularly their mental health.
“The majority of the time it effects cognition, the ability to concentrate and your attention span will be affected,” Espiridion said, noting that people may experience mood changes, becoming irritable and perhaps even experiencing depression or anxiety.
Julianne Lamb, a licensed clinical social worker with Thriveworks in Wyomissing, said sleep is a fairly common factor in mental health issues.
“Within my work, I notice that a lot of mental health struggles can come from a lack of sleep or lack of quality sleep,” she said.
Lamb said sleep deprivation can disrupt a person’s ability to make good decisions and problem-solve as well as disrupt a person’s typical behaviors or mood. That’s because sleep aids brain health.
“We think about sleep as a time to repair our bodies, but it also repairs the mind,” she said.
Along with mental health issues, Espiridion said a lack of sleep can have physical impacts.
For example, people struggling with diabetes or obesity may see it impact blood sugar levels.
“When you’re awake, you eat more,” Espiridion explained.
And, he said, a lack of sleep can impact things like heart rate or blood pressure. The workload on the heart is lessened during sleep.
How to deal with it
Espiridion and Lamb said there are things people can do if they struggle with sleep issues following the time change.
“It’s a great time to get into a sleep routine, if you’re not already in one,” Lamb said.
And that routine, she added, shouldn’t just consist of things like brushing your teeth and changing into pajamas. It should start earlier in the evening.
Lamb said that for many people getting into bed is the first moment they have to process their day. Their minds may race, finally having a moment to think.
“A lot of times it’s the time when the day or week catches up to them,” she said. “It’s finally quiet and they start thinking about everything that’s going on with them.”
Of course, with the mind that active it’s tough to get to sleep.
Lamb said to avoid that issue people can try to make time during the day to process things instead of saving it all up for when they crawl under the covers.
“When I work with my clients I encourage them to get their thoughts out during the day,” she said. “That can be some sort or mindfulness activity in the evening — yoga or meditation or journaling or taking a walk.
“Allowing yourself time to process what’s going on is super important.”
In order to do that, Lamb said, people should schedule it into their routines.
“Be intentional about it,” she said. “Build a schedule during the day to fit it in.”
Espiridion suggested those struggling with sleep issues dedicate themselves to a consistent sleep pattern. While he admitted that can be tough for some — including himself, who as a health care worker has a lot of experience with shift work — going to bed and waking up at the same time each night and day can be very beneficial.
In order to do that, he said, people need to practice good sleep hygiene.
“That means don’t drink coffee or other caffeinated beverages in the evening, don’t do strenuous physical activities at night, maybe do some relaxation techniques like breathing exercises,” he said.
Espiridion also said looking at screens when in bed is a big no-no. The light they emit causes melatonin production to shut down, which can make sleeping difficult.
“When you’re in bed, don’t watch TV or be on your cellphone,” he said. “When you’re in bed you should actually have the intention of going to sleep.”
Espiridion and Lamb said people should seek professional help if they are struggling with their sleep and adjusting to daylight saving time.
“If it’s been a month and you’re struggling to sleep, talk to your primary care physician,” Espiridion said. “More than a week is too much already.”
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