With the March 8th time change quickly approaching, many people are looking forward to longer daylight hours to enjoy the summer sunshine. But daylight savings time also brings something not as pleasant to look forward to – a disruption in sleep patterns for many Americans.
“Losing an hour of sleep because of the change to daylight savings time affects all of us to a certain degree, and for some, adjusting to the time change is a serious issue,” said Dr. Sibaji Shome, Medical Director of Parkridge East Hospital’s Sleep Well Center. “Recently, a New England Journal of Medicine article by Canadian psychologist Stanley Coren warned that traffic records show a jump in accidents the Monday after people move their clocks ahead. People are so sleep deprived these days that losing even one hour can make us more clumsy and dangerous on the roads.”
Dr. Shome says sleep may seem like inactivity, but it’s vital for the body and brain to rest, revitalize and download. Memory, mood reaction time and alertness are diminished with sleep deprivation, and recent research has also found that metabolism and endocrine functions are dramatically affected as well.
“Temporary sleep problems due to the time change are one thing, but chronic sleep problems require treatment,” says Dr. Shome. “That’s where the Sleep Well Center comes in. By monitoring our patients’ sleep difficulties, we can suggest adjustments to help them resume a healthy sleep pattern. We often have patients who have been searching for a solution to their sleep problems for years. When they come here they say, 'Why didn't someone point this out to me before?'"
To ease the transition to daylight savings time, Dr. Shome suggests the following tips:
- Plan to get at least eight hours of sleep on Saturday night – or more if you already feel tired.
- Go to bed a half hour earlier than your normal weekday bedtime on Saturday night and sleep at least a half hour later on Sunday morning.
- If you need more sleep on Sunday, take a nap in the middle of the afternoon. But don't sleep later than 4 pm or you could disrupt your nighttime sleep.
- Don't consume caffeinated beverages or food after the morning and avoid eating a heavy meal or drinking alcohol too close to bedtime.
- Make sure to go to bed early enough on Sunday night to get at least eight hours of sleep.
“Keep in mind that the time that you wake up is what re-sets your internal clock, so be consistent for at least two weeks – even through the weekend – to adjust more quickly,” says Ann Ayala, Supervisor of the Sleep Well Center.“This is especially important for school-age children to help them to stay awake in class.”
Staffed with physicians and technologists who specialize in sleep medicine, the Sleep Well Center at Parkridge East Hospital is dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders. For more information on the Sleep Well Center at Parkridge East or for a free physician referral, call TriStar MedLine at (800) 242-5662.