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Switching to Standard Time and its Consequences for Sleep Quality

The changing from standard time to daylight savings time has - as explained by the name - the purpose of saving up energy by participating in longer days. And every year in fall, we do the reverse: change back the clock to standard time. The consequences of these changes for our sleep quality are nowadays subject to interesting discussions.

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Does our wellbeing benefit from daylight savings time (DST) or from switching back to standard time? Research indicates that it does not. According to a report by German scientists, our internal clock might not follow the transition quite so easily (1). It does not require much effort to move the clock one hour forward or backward, but the change has a clear effect on our sleep and wellbeing.

One of the results of the survey was that the timing of sleep on free days, i.e. the weekend, followed the timing of dawn under standard time (which means, during autumn and winter), but not under DST. Moving our clock one hour earlier disrupts the relationship between the external time and our internal time, similar to a trip into a time zone one hour away. Thus, we end up suffering symptoms similar to jet lag: reduced sleep duration, impaired sleep quality, daytime sleepiness and impaired performance.

What is also interesting is the fact that the transitions to and from DST can affect you differently, depending on which chronotype you are, i.e. a morning/early type or an evening/late type. Early chronotypes struggle more in the autumn with the transition from DST to standard time - a result that has been confirmed by Kantermanns study.

When moving the clock back to standard time in autumn, we practically change the clock back one hour. For one night at least, we "gain" one hour more time for sleeping. The body, however, is not able to adjust itself so quickly to this change, and instead of waking at seven in the morning, we may end up being awake at six, when it is still dark outside. Here are a couple of tips that may help to ease the transition:

1. During the week leading up to changing the clock back to standard time, try to go to bed a little bit later each day. Over this time, a couple of minutes will add up to the one hour that you will gain when changing from DST to standard time, so that you may be able to sleep one hour longer.

2. Use exposure to bright light in the evenings leading up to the transition to standard time to delay your inner clock.

3. Following the time change, try to avoid exposure to bright light in the morning as it will move you clock forward instead of backward.

4. If you feel tired during the days following the transition to standard time, try to go out and move your body; go for a walk and get some daylight instead of taking a nap or drinking too much caffeine. It is also good to pay attention that you are drinking enough water or juices. Taking a cold shower is also a good way to wake up.

(1) T. Kantermann et al, The human circadian clock's seasonal adjustment is disrupted by daylight saving time; Curr Biol. 2007 Nov 20;17(22):1996-2000. Epub 2007 Oct 25.

Published on 17.09. by Thomas Toernell
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