Adjusting your Sleep Schedule for Daylight Saving Time

CLEVELAND – Many of us will be moving the clocks forward one hour on Sunday, March 10, for daylight saving time.

While that means it will stay lighter outside later, we’ll also be losing an hour of sleep and that can be hard to adjust to.

“We are all still on the same time schedule. If you have to be at work at 8 a.m., you always have to be at work at 8 a.m. even if you lose an hour of sleep. This change from standard time to daylight saving time in the spring is usually the more difficult one for people to adjust to,” explained Alicia Roth, PhD, sleep psychologist for Cleveland Clinic.

Dr. Roth said the change to daylight saving time has been linked to an increase in heart attacks, strokes and car accidents.

With this in mind, it’s important to prepare ourselves to lose that one hour of sleep.

Dr. Roth recommends making sure you’re well rested leading up to the time change.

You can also try going to bed a little earlier than normal a few days before.

And once the clocks change, you may notice you’re not feeling as sleepy when you normally go to bed with the sun setting later at night.

“We don’t have more sunlight. We just have a shift in the timing of sunlight, and this could make a big difference on your circadian rhythm, your sleep-wake schedule,” Dr. Roth said.

She stresses it will take time for your body to adjust but recommends seeing a sleep specialist if you’re consistently having trouble falling or staying asleep.