Useful Tips to Adjust to Daylight Saving Time
As the latest researches have demonstrated, a change from the summertime to the wintertime may cause severe problems for health such as sleep disturbance, problems with the heart, and unbalance the physiological circadian rhythm.
As a result, afterward, it can cause a lack of motivation, attention and, most importantly, vigilance. It means that it’s most likely to affect accident rates as the drivers won’t be in a good enough condition to pay sufficient attention on the road1.
6 tips to ease into Daylight Saving Time
To make the transition from wintertime to summertime easier and safer and avoid possible accident, we suggest following these tips.
Going to bed earlier is the key!
We highly recommend preparing yourself for the time change beforehand. It can make the transition easier for you if you start going to bed earlier before the day of resetting clocks comes. It is especially a good tip to follow for small children who tend to notice the effect of changing time even more than adults. Also, instead of turning your clock forward on Sunday, you could do it one day prior - on Saturday. It will help you to adjust better to a new time change and experience less stress at the beginning of the workweek.
Be consistent
To maintain your sleep cycle more properly, you should try to wake up every morning at the same time. And the weekends are not an exception. Even though sleeping longer makes you feel more rested, it is not a long term solution because later you will have trouble going to bed early (and it’s also an important condition from the previous tip, remember?). Moreover, it is even more important to get up at the same time every morning than going to bed early. Also, you should get up at your usual time on the first day of the DST, independently if you had a good sleep that night or not. Stay away from taking naps unless it’s a part of your regular routine. And try to keep your sleeping routine on a regular basis: establish a schedule for going to bed and waking up, and follow it.
Enjoy the longer evenings
An amazing advantage of the Daylight Saving Time is that the days are longer. You definitely should take advantage of the daylight in the evening, so open the blinds and let the sun into your room. Not only it is nice to have a lot of natural light around, but it is also good for your biological clock as well! Sunlight in the morning helps to wake up in a better mood and improves your attention and concentration during the day.
Workout!
Not only it helps to balance your sleeping cycle, but it is good for your overall health as well. Exercising outside, running, or simply walking will help to improve your sleep since physical activity makes your body use redundant energy you have and therefore, you will fall asleep faster. Although, you shouldn’t do it right before going to bed. Make sure you have at least two hours before you go to sleep.
Be cautious and pay attention to your meal
Having a quick snack during the day when you are busy is great. But you have to be more attentive to what you eat and when. Try not to eat right before going to bed and avoid heavy food that is spicy or contains a lot of fat. Also, we wouldn’t recommend you having drinks like coffee and alcohol especially before bedtime because they may make falling asleep more difficult.
Don’t stare at the screen all the time!
Almost everybody nowadays falls asleep with their smartphone in hand or with the TV on. Devices became almost an essential part of our lives. But they are no good when it comes to a night of good sleep. They stimulate our brain activity and we can’t relax and that gives us troubles when we have to sleep. Leave aside your laptop two hours prior to bedtime and don’t watch TV an hour before going to sleep2.