Did you know why you have less energy than usual this week?

This week I've been feeling somehow a bit more than usual that work isn't going very well. Things are starting to seem like the wrong time. Sleep comes way too early in the evening, I'd like to fly at 10:30 for my lunch break. Reflecting on a couple of unproductive days, it came to mind - right, of course, the damn clock-watching.

When boss Michael from the office TV series gets to make his own "that's what she said" jokes about turning back the clock, in autumn the clock will be turned back an hour. But between you and me, it doesn't make any difference, in both cases the rhythm is messed up for a week. For some reason, I find the hour shift even harder to digest at times, when travelling comes with time gaps of several hours. The reason is probably that when you make up for such a long gap, you actually do something to straighten it out. An hour's gap is nothing, but it really is.

Governments all over the world are constantly debating and measuring whether or not to move the clock, whether or not it is useful, whether or not to stay in daylight saving time or in a time zone. Ordinary people, on the other hand, have messed up their already fragile sleep patterns, and instead of energy savings we get reduced human productivity. So what do we do?

I googled how to adapt your body to the time change and the first thing I found was an article about "Adjusting to daylight saving time". So what do they think will save us?

Harju slowly

Firstly, it is recommended that you move your daily routine into 10-15 minute chunks and start a week before the clocks turn. For younger children, this approach could certainly be appropriate, but if you are used to watching Current Affairs and then The World Outside and then falling asleep, you probably don't want to miss the last 10 minutes of the end of the show?

Of course, it's clear that sleep freaks don't recommend watching TV before bed. Rather, reading a book. Picking at a book for 10 minutes is certainly more logical than turning off the TV halfway through a sentence.

Keep your routine

The second suggestion now seems a bit the opposite of the first, which is to stick to your routine and not give in to the temptation to go to bed earlier. By the way, as a person who hopefully likes to work out (FitQ is still very much a workout-oriented environment), you should importantly, exercise is generally not recommended less than 4 hours before bedtime. Raising your body temperature is not recommended if you want to sleep well. This recommendation also applies outside the period of getting used to the clock.

Get into a pre-sleep routine

Third recommendation. Dream rituals help. They are not just for children and Pavlov's dogs, but due to reflexes also work for adults. Even big people's bodies respond to sleep by creating a set of rituals that precede bedtime. Now you can do the routine easily at bedtime and it will help you in a miraculous way.

Don't sleep in the daytime

Fourthly, a long nap during the day will do you a disservice at night. If you're used to taking a light nap during the day, of course, keep it up, but don't let the daytime hours get longer than usual. You're pretty much guaranteed to pay a fee for it at night, with all the extras and interest.

Your body reacts to changes in light

You can also turn your internal clock with lights and lights. Light keeps you alert, darkness builds up melatonin and makes you sleepier.

But the most important thing is to maintain a routine as close to normal as possible. So they say. For me, I'll put that down as the main change here, and by writing this blog story I've killed the hour when I wanted to go to sleep but shouldn't have.

Of course, our government could also read the articles about how clock-watching is bad for us and finally take the decision to stop it. Until someone from our readership has sent this story to the government and managed to persuade the Minister of Labour and Health, we will have to manage as well or as badly as anyone has the skills and will.

But if you have a great tip or idea that will help you get through your watchmaking days without a care in the world and you'd like to share it with us, drop us a line. blog@fitq.me