Despite efforts to end it, daylight saving time begins in most states on March 10; having an adjustment plan helps

Photo by Lukas Blazek, Unsplash

U.S. states are still trying to decide if daylight saving time is a needed ritual, reports Claire Moses of The New York Times. "Oregon's state senate failed to advance a bill that would have abolished daylight saving time in most of the state. . . . In Idaho this week, a bill was introduced to get rid of daylight saving time, and there is a similar bill in front of California's Assembly."

Although manyAmericans feel daylight saving time is a nuisance or even harmful, the practice has been hard to uproot. "According to polls over the years, most Americans don't like changing the clocks twice a year, and the days after the switch can be a turbulent time for public health," Moses writes. "Daylight saving time still has some supporters, especially among business advocates who argue it helps bolster the economy."

Debates aside, most states still observe daylight savings time, with 2024's spring switch on Sunday, March 10. Studies show the days following the spring bump forward an hour are riddled with short-term increased risks of heart attacks, stroke, traffic accidents, emergency room visits, and mood disturbances," reports Eric Suni for the Sleep Foundation. "A lack of sleep caused by the time change can affect thinking, decision-making, and productivity."

Preparation can help mitigate some of the risks and health struggles caused by moving our clocks an hour ahead. "These problems arise because the switch to and from daylight saving time alters your normal pattern of daylight exposure," Suni explains. "This change can throw off your body's circadian rhythm, the internal clock that helps control sleep and many other biological processes. Developing a plan to cope with the time change can reduce its impact on your sleep and overall wellness."

Suni's coping plan suggestions are outlined below.

• During the week of the time change (next week), move your wake-up time a bit earlier, inching toward your new "wake-up" hour. Move exercise and meal time as you gradually change your schedule.
• Get the best and the most sleep you can in the days before March 10. Meditation and relaxation techniques may help you go to bed earlier and still sleep well.
• Before heading to bed on March 9, move your watches and clocks ahead an hour. That way, you'll wake up at the correct time, which can prevent morning frustrations like showing up to brunch an hour late.
• Once you've "sprung" forward, do your best to get the most sunlight possible. More sunlight will help your internal clock reset to the new time.
• Should you need help to adjust to the change, don't pack your schedule on the week following March 10. Avoid long drives, and consider sneaking in a nap. Eat a healthy diet and avoid caffeine products in the evening.

Clocks swing back an hour this Sunday. A plan to counter daylight saving time's aftereffects can help.

Exercising later in the day can sometimes help with the
post-DST slumps. (Illustration by Dana Davis, Wirecutter)

This Sunday includes a glorious hour of extra sleep as daylight saving time winds to an end on Nov. 5 at 2 a.m. However, that single hour comes with a cost. When the sun sets by 4 p.m. in some places, many of us start feeling droopy and consider using toothpicks to prop our eyelids open. "Falling back feels unnatural because we're returning from an unnatural state," reports Caira Blackwell of Wirecutter. "You may be gaining an hour of sleep, but it's only because you moved the clocks forward artificially in the first place. Without DST, you would experience a gradual shift of lost daylight as autumn progresses into winter, the sun setting a little later each day."

While DST has been blamed for "increases in car accidents, heart attacks, and even overall mortality," Blackwell writes, "Unless laws change and golf club manufacturers, gas companies, and the leisure industry stop lobbying in support of DST, people will continue to face these jarring transitions twice a year. . . .Thankfully, studies have shown that the human circadian rhythm, a 24-hour cycle that's governed by your body's internal clock, adjusts more easily to the fall transition than the one in the spring." Here are five tips to help ease the shift.

Stay up later. "According to Chris Winter, MD, author of The Sleep Solution: Why Your Sleep Is Broken and How to Fix It, the transition in the fall is like 'a trip west to Vegas, rather than the more painful return to the east,'" Blackwell explains. "If you don't want to fall asleep an hour earlier post-DST, staying up a bit later a day or two before the time shift can help. If that's difficult, he recommends exercise later in the day to help rejuvenate you; studies show that working out between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. delays the body clock."

Take advantage of the sun. Joseph Takahashi, Ph.D., a professor of neuroscience at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, said "that the best fall-back advice he can give for the chronically sleepy is to get as much light exposure as possible to help push through the darkness," Blackwell adds. 

Stick to regular meal times and other routines. "As the days get darker faster, you might feel hungrier earlier," Blackwell writes. "It's important to fight the urge to eat your last meal of the day super early, which may make you get sleepy sooner than you'd like or cause you to snack later, which can inhibit sleep."

Block early morning sunlight. "If the earlier sunrise post-DST causes you to wake up before you want to, now might be a good time to invest in blackout curtains or shades," Blackwell reports. "Consider smart shades, which can raise or lower on a schedule. Even a sleep mask can help."

If all else fails, embrace hibernation. "Fighting sleepiness, exercising on a consistent schedule, eating at the same time every night, and getting the right amount of sun is a lot to fit into a day that feels done before it begins," Blackwell adds. "Whether you like it or not, winter is coming. If all else fails. . . give yourself permission to take back some of what you've missed over the past year — and to fall back to yourself."