March 23, 2018. A technician working on the bell of the Lukaskirche Church in Dresden, East … (+)
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Daylight saving time ends in North America on Sunday, November 3. This means that the clock will be set back one hour, making the track twice between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. In theory, we get an extra hour that night, which is why the popular belief is that people can sleep an extra hour. In practice, parents of young children and those with a regular sleep schedule know this to be a myth. There is plenty of research showing that not everyone benefits from the fall time change. Changing the clock by an hour affects our sleep and work habits. Here are three important factors to consider as you prepare for or recover from the time change.
Night owls versus early birds
The dangers of changing the clock, including sleep deprivation and increased workplace injuriesare most evident when we enter summer time in the spring. Still, an overview of 16 studies conducted in 2013 reports that the end of daylight saving time also disrupts sleep. Dr. Harrison, a senior lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University, concludes that people wake up earlier, and wake up more often during the night after the clocks are reset. The cumulative effects over at least five days or more result in a net loss of sleep that is not insignificant.
The lack of sleep is most likely felt by early birds, and not so much by night owls. People have different ones chronotypes – Evening types have a natural tendency to sleep later and wake up later, while morning types go to bed early and wake up early. Turning back the clock suits the schedule of evening people, because going to bed later is in line with their biorhythms, and they are also happy to sleep in. However, morning people wake up at the same biological time – someone who typically wakes up at 7am. wakes up at 6am after the fall time change. Failure to adjust your bedtime accordingly will result in: loss of sleep instead of profit.
So the strategy for beating the upcoming time change depends on your chronotype. If you’re a night owl, chances are you don’t think too much about the time change. Going to bed later and getting up later is in line with your body’s preferred rhythm. However, if you’re an early riser, getting an extra hour of sleep in the morning is less helpful. You probably wake up early. To make the most of this extra hour, you can use it to get a head start on work, exercise, or whatever activity makes you happy. Of course, taking advantage of this extra time in the morning only works if you go to bed on time.
Children do not read (social) clocks
Another determining factor for your sleep is what your housemates do. If you have children, they don’t care that the artificial time changes Benjamin Franklin coined in 1784. Their bodies tell them it’s time to wake up at the same biological time, before and after the time change, regardless of what hour the clock shows. So sleeping in is a dream when your toddler is ready to play at 5:30 am.
To ease the transition for toddlers, pediatricians recommend adjusting their bedtime in 15-minute increments. Starting on Friday before the time change can be helpful. Remember that for On Sundays, you’ll want to put your child to bed 15 minutes later than usual (for example, 7:15 p.m. if bedtime is 7 p.m.). After If the time changes, you’ll want to put them to bed earlier than normal for the first few days (e.g. 6:30 PM) and gradually reduce the bedtime to 7:00 PM over five days.
Your body is ahead of your work schedule
Changing the clock one hour also affects your working week. When daylight saving time ends, your body is still an hour ahead from your social calendar for about a week. This means your peak focus hours are sooner than you think. For example, if you are usually most alert between 10:00 AM and 11:00 AM, this golden hour now starts at 9:00 AM. This is good to know when planning focus time, meetings or coffee conversations.
In the week after the fall time change, you will also likely be hungry well before lunch. At 12 noon your body thinks it is 1 p.m. Because of feelings of hunger can increase irritabilityit can be useful to take an extra snack with you the first few days after the end of summer time. Likewise, if you wake up early, it can be harder to get to the end of the workday. Focus and attention level generally decrease during the daybut if you start your day an hour earlier, you will feel more tired in the last hour of work.
Most people will need about five to seven days to get used to the new schedule. Keep this in mind when planning bedtimes and planning your work week. While night owls are likely to get into their element quickly, early birds may need to be more vigilant and go to bed early to make the most of the extra hour in the morning.