Easing Transition To Daylight Time
This weekend marks the beginning of daylight-saving time, when we set our clocks ahead, and lose an hour of sleep.
Some people have more trouble than others adjusting to the loss of that hour.
Dr. Gary Zammit, a psychologist and director of the Sleep Disorders Institute at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital in New York, says some people take the change in stride. To them, it's inconsequential.
But for others, it's quite significant.
It doesn't sound like much, Zammit tells The Early Show co-anchor Julie Chen, "but losing just an hour of sleep can affect a person's alertness level and overall performance throughout the day. So, this may mean that you'll have a hard time concentrating or completing even simple tasks. It could also mean you're having a harder time doing something like driving a car.
The impact depends on the person. Most will probably adjust in a day, but it may take others longer. In fact, the whole reason the time change happens on the weekend and not during the workweek is so that people can have a down day to adjust.
Those who are sleep-deprived to begin with are more likely to be affected by the time change. Also, people who live on a very tight schedule will have a harder time adjusting, because they may not be able to do things like go to sleep earlier, or take a nap.
As for kids, says Zammit, we don't know exactly what happens to them, but we do know that in general, kids are vulnerable to sleep loss. And this can affect their school day: They may have problems concentrating, completing tasks, or even staying awake.
Zammit offered some simple ways to ease the effect of the hour's sleep loss:
Get Adequate Sleep: Either go to bed earlier on a Saturday night or try and sleep in on Sunday morning.
Get Some Bright Light Exposure: As soon as you wake up on Sunday morning, and even Monday morning, get exposure to a lot of bright light. The sun helps reset your internal body clock, so if you get exposure to a lot of light when you first wake up, it would help you get to bed at a proper time at night.
Take a Nap Nothing replaces sleep but more sleep. So if you are feeling tired, try to take a nap. This will probably be hard for some workers, but remember, you don't want to be driving when you're sleepy.
Caffeine, as we all know, is a stimulant and moderate use of it is OK, because it can improve your performance. But we do not recommend it as a way to stay awake, especially if you're going to be driving.