Prepare for DayLight Saving Time by going to bed early: experts
Posted March 12, 2016 8:39 am.
Last Updated March 12, 2016 8:48 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – You should probably go to bed really early tonight ahead of our clocks springing forward early tomorrow.
The time change has a big impact on your sleep schedule, specifically your cognitive abilities. Experts say you become indecisive, forgetful, it can even get to the point you can’t form sentences.
Denise Bauln with the Nanaimo Sleep Clinic says a simple way to offset any effects is to plan ahead. “A lot of people fail to realize they actually need the bedtime routine that they all talk about for kids — you still need it as an adult. You can’t be rushing around your house putting that last load of laundry through, loading the dishwasher and then look at the clock and go, ‘Oh! It’s 11 p.m. I should go to bed,’ and think you’re going to go to sleep.”
She adds you need to keep up that routine for the next little while as your body tries to play catch up. “That’s one more hour lost on top of the copious amounts of hours that you’ve probably lost throughout the month. It’s going to affect your driving and it’s going to affect ability to think and concentrate later on in the day.”
You will likely feel tired, but be careful when you have some caffeine. She adds any coffee after 12 p.m. will totally throw off your sleep schedule.
The time change applies to most of the country except Saskatchewan, which is on Central Standard Time year-round. Daylight Saving Time ends November 6th.
