Daylight saving time returns Sunday

Sunday marks the start of daylight-saving time, when we “spring forward” by setting our clocks one hour ahead — and many of us lose an hour of sleep.

Observed in all states except Arizona and Hawaii, the practice began in the U.S. during World War I and again during World War II and the oil crisis of the 1970s to conserve fuel and energy costs. But many health experts have advocated for years to eliminate the twice-yearly time changes, arguing that the health impacts caused or exacerbated by sleep disruption aren’t worth the benefits.

“Springing forward” in March appears to harm individual and public health more than “falling back” to Standard Time in November, according to sleep medicine doctors and studies. While both time changes force a reset of our circadian rhythm, losing an hour of sleep tends to worsen existing stressors in a population already struggling to get enough sleep.

The days following the start of daylight-saving time are associated with an increase in hospitalizations for atrial fibrillation and a higher incidence of heart attacks. Some studies have found a greater increase in medical mistakes caused by human error, and an increase in fatal car crashes during the week following the spring time change.

While one hour may not seem like a lot, it’s a major and abrupt change for our bodies to absorb.

And many people tend to lose more sleep in the days following, accumulating socalled sleep debt — which many try to counteract with caffeine, further disrupting sleep.

“The thinking is you can just go to bed an hour earlier,” said Dr. Rafael Pelayo, a sleep specialist at Stanford. “But our bodies are not designed to do that. It’s much easier for our brains to push away sleep than to advance sleep. So if your bedtime is midnight, you could stay up until 1 a.m. easier than you could fall asleep at 11 p.m. You can’t just go to sleep an hour earlier because you won’t be able to fall asleep.”

Here are four tips sleep specialists recommend to ease your transition to daylight-saving time:

Shift your sleep schedule gradually beforehand

In the lead-up to daylightsaving time, try moving up your sleep schedule so you go to sleep 15 minutes earlier each day, said UCSF sleep medicine specialist Dr. Kin Yuen, who started recommending this to her own patients in early March.

Because one’s biological clock is programmed to absorb small changes better than big sudden ones, “you may have an easier transition,” Yuen said. “It’ll never be easy, but easier than a full hour shift.”

Get sunlight early in the day

“Getting sunlight tells the brain it’s the proper time to wake up in the morning,” Yuen said.

Exercise

Physical exercise is one of the only things under our control that can help deepen our sleep and counteract sleep deprivation, Yuen said.

The “best” time of day to exercise is up for debate, she said. But generally, if you’re doing high-intensity exercise, try finishing it at least four hours before bed. This is because high-intensity workouts make your blood pressure and heart rate spike and your brain feel wide awake, making it harder to fall asleep right away. For moderate exercise, where the heart rate is in the 60% to 80% range, two to four hours before bed is probably fine, she said.

Give yourself and others at least a few days to adjust the following week

The effects of sleep disruption don’t end Monday, with studies showing it takes most people about three to five days to feel “normal” again. When possible, consider delaying important meetings, tests and sports games — teens in particular are affected by sleep deprivation because they tend to sleep later than adults — to the following week.

“I tell parents and teachers, don’t schedule tests the Monday after daylight saving, it’s not fair” to students, Pelayo said. “They’ll show up sleep-deprived. If you don’t get enough sleep, you tend to be irritable and inattentive. You zero in and drift back out.”