Daylight Saving Time: That extra hour could come at a cost
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - We are now just five days away from getting an extra hour of sleep.
We fall back on Sunday morning to Eastern Standard Time, but that extra hour of sleep comes at a cost.
Wasn't Congress talking about ending this time change routine?
It is, and it's hanging in congressional limbo. It is possible when we change to Daylight Savings Time in the spring, it will be the last time we change. But that's an if, the change this weekend is definite.
Especially for those of us who live a life of sleep deprivation, we romanticize just the idea of getting an extra hour of sleep this weekend.
"You think you would gain an hour, but most of us don't capture that. We still stay up and just kind of shrink it. Even though we could sleep in a lot of times, we don't, or we just, you know, add on to the other end. 'Oh, I can sleep and I'm going to stay up later,' which is a trap," according to Daniel Shade, M.D., the Director of the AHN Sleep Disorders Center.
Put Dr. Shade solidly in the category of not liking the time change.
"I know it only seems like an hour change, but our bodies are finely tuned and every cell in our body has its own rhythm," Dr. Shade said.
And those rhythms depend on the predictability of sunlight's natural schedule.
"These are rhythms that control sleep onset, body function, hormonal secretion, memory consolidation, and just one hour where we're misaligned from the way light is delivered, can really affect the body," said Shade. "How would I know I have a problem with this? You would feel sleepy you might have a lack of attention to detail or if you're doing a project, feel like [you're] just not quite there."
It impacts all of us, and can even bring on depression as we spend more of our time in darkness.
How long does the impact last?
Dr. Shade said for most of us a week maybe two, but there are things you can do to prepare and even do when the time change comes to soften the time change blow.
You would think that an extra hour of sleep coming our way on Monday, it would make for bright eyes and brighter moods.
But the reality is, our bodies don't like it when we change the clocks either way.
Sleep experts hate it when the time changes because, for many, it means more than trying to figure out how to reset the clock.
The transition from daylight to standard time or vice versa bypasses our manual controls and hits us right in our cells.
"They need natural sunlight. It's strong enough; it has the correct wavelength," said Dr. Shade. "At noon, the sun is at its highest peak. That's what we've evolved to, to set our clocks."
So, our bodies feel it when we try to manipulate our circadian rhythms.
"For this week or so, you might feel a little worse, you might be a little depressed, certainly fatigued, and just keep an eye on it," Shade said.
To soften the transition Dr. Shade said to maintain whatever we can to get seven-to-nine hours of sleep.
Transition into it by adjusting your bedtime or wake time or both.
"Some people will do it in 10-to-15-minute increments over a couple of days, just to try to get your clock reset," Shade added.
And don't forget the kids, so they won't be napping in class.
"Make sure they have a stable bedtime and they're off their phones and any kind of light-emitting devices and not doing something active, that they cherish sleep and learn that it's important."
Dr. Shade said for some folks, the time change is very disruptive, it has been proven to increase auto accidents and depression, and lead to an increase in heart attacks when we push the clock forward in spring.
So, the primary downside is feeling more tired than normal for a week or two.
But there is also a corresponding decrease in productivity and performance, and often, the person doesn't even realize they have an adjustment issue. They think they are doing just fine.
