This week, more than usual, I’ve felt that work just isn’t flowing very well. Everything seems to happen at the wrong time. I get sleepy too early in the evening, and by 10:30 I already want to rush off for my lunch break. After thinking back over a couple of unproductive days, it hit me—of course, it’s that damned clock change.
In spring, Michael, the boss from The Office, can make his "that's what she said" joke about turning the clocks back, while in autumn the clocks are moved forward by an hour. But between you and me, it makes no difference: either way, your rhythm is thrown off for a week. For some reason, I sometimes find this one-hour shift even harder to handle than the several-hour time differences that come with travelling. The reason is probably that when adjusting to a larger time difference, you actually take steps to straighten it out. An hour may seem like nothing, but it really isn’t.
Governments around the world keep debating and assessing whether the clocks should be changed, whether there is any benefit, and whether we should stick with daylight saving time or standard time. Meanwhile, ordinary people disrupt their already fragile sleep schedules, and instead of saving energy, we end up with reduced productivity. So what can we do?
I googled how to help my body adjust to a time difference, and the first result was an article titled "Adjusting to daylight savings time". So what do they think will save us?
Adjust gradually
First, the recommendation is to shift your daily routine in 10-15-minute increments, starting a week before the clock change. This approach would certainly work well for younger children, but if you’re used to watching Aktuaalne Kaamera, followed by Välisilm, and then drifting off to sleep, you probably won’t want to miss the final 10 minutes of the programme, will you?
Of course, sleep experts don’t recommend watching television before bed in the first place. They suggest reading a book instead. Taking 10 minutes out of your reading definitely makes more sense than switching off a TV programme halfway through a sentence.
Stick to your routine
The second recommendation seems somewhat at odds with the first: make yourself stick to your routine and don’t give in to the temptation to go to bed earlier. By the way, as someone who is hopefully interested in exercise—FitQ is, after all, a platform largely focused on training—it is especially important to remember that exercise is generally not recommended within 4 hours of falling asleep. Raising your body temperature is not advisable if you want to fall asleep easily. This advice also applies outside the period of adjusting to a clock change.
Establish a bedtime routine
Third recommendation: bedtime rituals help. They aren’t just for children and Pavlov’s dogs; conditioned reflexes work in adults too. Grown-ups’ bodies also respond by getting sleepy if you establish a set of rituals that precedes bedtime. Now you can simply follow the routine at the new time, and it will work its magic.
Don’t catch up on sleep debt during the day
Fourth, a long daytime nap will do you a disservice at night. If you’re used to taking a quick nap during the day, by all means keep the habit, but don’t sleep any longer than usual. You’ll most certainly pay for it at night, with all the added fees and interest.
Your body responds to changes in light
You can also reset your internal clock by managing light and lighting. Light keeps you more alert, while darkness causes melatonin to build up and makes you sleepier.
The most important thing, however, is to maintain a routine that is as close to normal as possible. That’s what they say. For my part, that’s the main takeaway I’ll remember, and writing this blog post helped me kill the hour when I already wanted to go to bed but wasn’t supposed to yet.
Of course, our government could also read the articles about how clock changes harm us and finally decide to put an end to them. Until one of our readers sends this post to the government and manages to convince the Minister of Health and Labour, we’ll just have to cope as well or as poorly as our skills and willingness allow.
If you have a useful tip or idea that helps you sail through the clock change without a worry and you’d like to share it with us, email us at blog@fitq.me
