How to cope with the switch to daylight savings

An extra hour of daylight is a welcome sign of summer for most, but for some, it’s a sleep-stealing nuisance as clocks go forward.

While the amount of sleep lost might seem small, overseas studies have shown daylight saving can lead to an increase in car accidents, workplace injuries, and heart attacks.

As Dr Lora Wu of Massey University’s Sleep/Wake Research Centre put it: "Daylight saving challenges your internal timekeeper, the circadian clock. Your circadian clock does not automatically shift with daylight savings, so it can take some time to recover."

Wu says you should try to get a lot of natural sunlight exposure when you first wake up in the morning, and avoid bright lights in the evening, including TVs, computers and mobile devices.

Avoid caffeine in the afternoon and evening, and don’t use alcohol as a sleep aid.

Make sure to give yourself extra time for travel to avoid being sleepy on the road.

Other good sleep habits include regular exercise, avoiding large meals before bed, and reading a book, listening to music or taking a bath.

Plunket says it might take a few nights for children to get used to the change - generally, it takes about a week for everyone to adjust.

It’s important to stick to a normal routine during this time, having dinner, bathtime, and bedtime as usual.

To make bedtime easier, consider blackout blinds to darken your child’s room.

You can also buy sleep training clocks which display a star at bedtime and a sun at wake-up time to help little ones learn about the concept.

And lastly, remember, if you really can’t get past the idea that you’ve been robbed of an hour’s sleep you get it back again in six month’s time!