Daylight Saving Time 2017; What Does Losing an Hour’s Sleep Mean to You?

The daylight-saving time change will force most of us to spring forward and advance our clocks one hour. This effectively moves an hour of daylight from the morning to the evening, giving us those long summer nights.

But waking up Monday morning may not be so easy, having lost an hour of precious sleep and perhaps driving to work in the dark with an extra jolt of java. How time changes actually affect you depends on your own personal health, sleep habits, and lifestyle.

“Moving our clocks in either direction changes the principal time cue—light—for setting and resetting our 24-hour natural cycle, or circadian rhythm. In doing so, our internal clock becomes out of sync or mismatched with our current day-night cycle. How well we adapt to this depends on several things.”

WebMD added, in general, losing the hour of sleep in the spring is more difficult than falling back in the fall. There may be difficulty in falling asleep or sleepers may find they face an increased wakefulness in the early morning hours before daybreak.

A rule of thumb, WebMD notes, is it takes about a day to adjust but it varies by individual. A helpful tip may be in getting more light in the day and avoiding bright light after dark.

“Altering your sleep schedule, or having poor sleep habits to begin with, can have a greater effect on your health than you may think,” the Mayo Clinic reported. A Mayo Clinic neurologist and sleep specialist said daylight saving time and losing an hour of sleep may lead to significant fatigue in most people that can linger for days.

Tips to avoid that includes going to bed 15 minutes early in the days leading up to Sunday or taking a short nap early Sunday afternoon and avoiding sleeping in later Sunday morning—all of which can help make Monday easier. The Mayo Clinic noted proper sleep habits play an essential role in learning and memory, controlling weight, cardiovascular system, mood, immune system and alertness.

Agencies/Canadajournal