It may seem premature, but there is a reason to bring up this weekend’s Daylight Saving Time’s beginning. The reason is to provide a head start in preparing for the 2 a.m. on Sunday when clocks “spring forward” and everybody loses an hour of sleep.
For some folks, it’s absolutely no big deal. But for others like those with medical conditions (i.e., dialysis, diabetics, etc.), children and animals, it’s a challenge.
The Insider also notes that the American Heart Association reported that in 2018 that “DST brings a higher risk for heart attacks.” It also reported that the American Academy of Neurology “found that the rate of an ischemic stroke was 8% higher during the first two days of daylight saving time.”
Last year Science News quoted a study conducted by the University of Colorado Boulder saying, “Fatal car accidents in the United States spike by 6% during the workweek following the ‘spring forward’ to daylight saving time, resulting in about 28 additional deaths each year.”
The study in Current Biology, “also found that the farther west a person lives in his or her time zone, the higher their risk of a deadly crash that week.”
Needless to say, DST is starting to look scary. Luckily, there are ways to overcome the anxiety, frustration and problems associated with the time change.
According to St. Luke’s Hospital (Chesterfield, Missouri) Sleep Medicine and Research Center Co-Director Dr. Shalini Paruthi, “Three days before Sunday, start shifting the time you go to sleep and wake up by 20 minutes earlier each night and morning.”
If you’re a procrastinator and have put preparing off to the last minutes, so to speak, Dr. Paruthi says, “It’s still not too late to get your seven hours of sleep — two options are to go to bed half an hour early and sleep in half an hour or go to bed an hour early.”
Another clue to your own well-being is to not schedule any major activities in the three days following Sunday. It will give your body and mind and those around you time to adapt to the next time.