The Switch to Daylight Savings Time

As humans, we do not like change. When we are forced to adjust our bodies to a different schedule based on man-made time, we often become groggier and more irritable. One way to adjust to springing forward is to do so, slowly. Here are four ways to help you make the transition.

1. Move Your Bedtime. About a week before Daylight Savings Time starts, push your bedtime back by 30 minutes or so. Your body needs that time to adjust and will love the extra sleep. It makes for an easy transition all around.
2. Expose Yourself to Light. Go outside in the morning to allow your body to adjust to the extended daylight. Try drinking your coffee or tea outside in the morning or even just listening to the birds chirp for 10 to 15 minutes. With our bodies exposed to light, it can improve our mood by producing serotonin and make us better prepared for the day.
3. Don’t Lean on Caffeine. It is very tempting to get that extra cup of coffee or sneak in a few extra minutes of shuteye, but that can make it worse. To get a good night’s sleep, we must be tired. Being caffeinated or getting extra sleep during the day gives us energy we think we need, but it puts us in line for a bad night of sleep.
4. Ground Yourself. A personal technique I use when it comes to time change with travel or Daylight Savings Time is grounding. If I could walk everywhere barefoot, I would. If you can stand it, even for a couple of minutes, I suggest putting your bare feet on earth. Literal earth. Not concrete or cement or tiles, but grass and dirt. I like to close my eyes and let my mind wander for a couple of minutes but do what feels most comfortable to you. This helps you connect with the natural rhythms of the season.

FAMILY TIME

1. “The sky’s awake, so I’m awake, so we have to play,” rings true for every kid I know. Time change is stressful for kids, but here are a few tips for our stubborn sleepers.
2.  Buy blackout curtains for nighttime. Darkening the room makes it easier to fall asleep, but make sure to expose them to light in the morning!
3. Tire them out the first day. It requires energy from parents, but physical exhaustion makes for an easier time falling asleep and staying asleep!

Daylight Savings time begins on Sunday, March 13, 2022.

DID YOU KNOW?

In March to November (Daylight Savings Time), the appropriate way to indicate Pacific time is PDT (Pacific Daylight Time)? The appropriate time to write PST (Pacific Standard Time) is when we fall back an hour when Daylight Savings Time ends.