Social cues can also affect your internal clock, such as when your alarm goes off or when you drive to work each day. The strongest signal is light - sunlight and artificial light. Like a cellphone that sets its clock to a signal from the phone company, your internal clock synchronizes to signals in the environment. In the spring, late risers will get their turn, though, with the “loss” of 1 hour affecting them for a week or longer.Ĭhanging the clocks in your house is easy. Short sleepers’ attempts to go to bed earlier can also be hampered by night owl friends and family who will try to convince larks to stay up beyond their new 8 p.m.

In lab studies, short sleepers, who tend to be early risers, went to bed earlier and woke later - which meant they got more sleep than usual.īut for a few days after the time change, they also took longer to fall asleep and were more likely to wake up in the middle of the night.

“It could take a few days to a week for them to adjust to the 1-hour shift that the body goes through.” “Early morning risers - or larkers - may have more difficulty adjusting to the change,” said Walia. Research shows that short sleepers - those who sleep less than 7.5 hours a night - may experience the most sleep disruption when DST ends. “People who are sleep-deprived may actually feel some benefit immediately - they may be able to sleep longer,” said Walia, “but there are some studies which show that after a few days, their sleep efficiency may be disrupted.” In the fall, many people look forward to grabbing an extra hour of sleep when DST ends. Much of this research is mixed, but the groggy feeling you may feel on Monday morning after the time change is very real. Studies have found that in the days following the DST shift, there’s a spike in heart attacks, suicides, automobile accidents, and work-related injuries. The spring and fall time change is large enough to put your internal clock - circadian rhythm - out of sync with the world around you, with a whole host of ripple effects. “Compared to social jet lag, true jet lag, or shift work - those are big shifts in the circadian rhythm - this is considered a minute shift, but it could have some impact on your body,” said Walia. Of course, the sleep disruption caused by a DST shift pales in comparison to flying to another continent or partying all night long. Harneet Walia, a sleep disorders specialist at the Cleveland Clinic, told Healthline in a previous interview. “There are some studies that suggest that the start or end of daylight saving time (DST) could have an impact on sleep - more so springing forward than falling backward,” Dr. While cellphones with automatic clocks have made this chore easier, it can take days for your body to catch up with this artificial time change.

Twice a year, people in the United States wake up on Sunday morning and begin the ritual of setting all the clocks in the house forward or backward 1 hour. This Sunday means the start of daylight saving time in the United States. Studies have found after daylight saving time there’s a spike in heart attacks, suicides, automobile accidents, and work-related injuries.The switch to daylight saving time is large enough to put your internal clock - circadian rhythm - out of sync with the world around you, with a whole host of ripple effects.Even changing the clocks just 1 hour can wreak havoc on your alertness, heart, and ability to drive safely.

When clocks change