Why The Time Change Is Awful (And What To Do About It)
by Allison Brager, PhD & Valerie Starratt, PhD
4 minutes
The time change always sucks.
But when we “fall back” from Standard Time to Daylight Savings Time, the effects are particularly bad for us and can last for months.
Outside of a rather intense group of sleep researchers, few people realize how much our lives are governed by the daily shifts between light and dark. Changes in the amount and timing of light and dark in an environment dictates the behavior, mood, and physiology for any animal, including humans. It’s all part of what experts call our circadian rhythm.
Obviously, the sun rising and setting every day has a huge influence on when we wake up in the morning and get sleepy at night. It also regulates our core body temperature, our hormone levels, our digestion, and even how well our bodies heal from injury. Did you know that wounds sustained during daylight hours can heal faster, sometimes many days faster, than wounds sustained at night?
Sunlight, particularly morning sunlight, is also super important for mood regulation and the ability to focus attention. Exposure to morning sunlight increases serotonin and stimulates the production of vitamin D, both of which act as mood stabilizers. Morning sunlight also decreases melatonin and increases cortisol. Together, this combination contributes to feeling awake and focused.
So what happens when the time changes and shifts this whole light/dark cycle?
Nothing good.
When the time changes in the spring, there is an immediate and significant increase in things like car accidents and heart attacks. Thankfully, that doesn’t last long and settles out after people start getting a full night’s sleep again.
But in the fall? We get months of difficulty staying awake, loss of productivity, and other symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD.
Why? Our behavior is no longer in sync with that indispensable morning sunlight. This means we are forced to start our days without the benefits it brings. We don’t get that increase in serotonin. We don’t get the stimulated production of vitamin D. We don’t get the decrease in melatonin or the increase in cortisol. Instead, we remain sleepy for longer, are unable to focus to the best of our abilities, and are subject to an unstable mood.
Ok, that sucks. So what do we do about it?
Well, if you’re a member of the United States Congress you propose a bill called the Sunshine Protection Act that calls for an end to the practice of time change. Hooah! Something we can all get behind. Except for the very important point that Congress got the core detail wrong. The bill called for the permanent move to Daylight Savings Time instead of away from it. As this would leave us all perpetually sleepy, unfocused, and moody, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommended the opposite: a permanent move to Standard Time. Why would congress propose a bill that is in direct contrast to a clear and direct medical recommendation, you ask? Yes, that IS a good question. Anyway…
With the scientists and the politicians yet again at a stalemate, where does that leave the rest of us? What should we regular people do to help ourselves through this?
For one thing, always try to get at least 7 hours of sleep each night. Some of us actually need more than this, and some of us can get away with a little less, so adjust as necessary. Just be honest with yourself about how much sleep you really need and don’t cheat yourself out of what’s good for you.
It can also be helpful to make a gradual shift to your sleep schedule over the course of a week or so if you can. Oh, and by the way, make sure you have and stick to a sleep schedule. Sleep experts really care about going to bed and waking up at the same time every day, even weekends. Easier said than done, but still a recommendation. And while you’re at it, make the same schedule shift for things like eating and exercising.
The other really important thing is to make sure you get exposure to that morning sunlight. But how do we do that when the time shifts and there’s no longer any sun in the morning when we need it? Artificial light, my friend.
You may have heard that natural light is good and artificial light is bad. That’s not actually true. Lightwaves are lightwaves, no matter their source. What does very much matter, though, is full spectrum light versus non-full spectrum light.
Uninterrupted sunlight is always full spectrum. It contains the full range of wavelengths of light, from ultraviolet to infrared, with different amounts of each of those wavelengths depending on the time of day. Morning sunlight, for example, has a lot of blue light in it. Artificial light doesn’t work like that. Think of artificial light as being kind of incomplete, with gaps in it. Sunlight doesn’t have those gaps.
Can’t we create artificial light without those gaps? Yes we can! There are, in fact, companies that create artificial light systems that mimic the light that comes from the sun for this exact reason. There’s also good scientific evidence that the proper use of these light systems can significantly improve symptoms of the kind of seasonal affective disorder people tend to experience following the time change in the fall and lack of sunlight in the winter months.
So what are the things you should keep in mind as the time changes this fall?
First, morning sunlight is important and shifting it to later in the day has real and meaningful effects on your body and brain.
Second, there are some things you can do to help you be your best and healthiest self after the time change and during the late fall and winter months. These include making and sticking to a schedule of sleeping, eating, and exercising, and making good use of natural or artificial morning sunlight.
And remember, trying to force ourselves to be as active and productive after the time change as we were before the time change without acknowledging or making adjustments for the real physiological effects we’re experiencing is just another example of us making things harder for ourselves than they have to be.
