Daylight savings time is the practice of advancing clocks one hour in spring (“spring forward”) and setting them back one hour in autumn (“fall back”). It was started to help maximize daylight hours, benefiting farmers in particular, as well as helping to conserve resources during war times (e.g. World War I & II).
Despite the fact that modern society has been following daylight savings time for approximately the last century, many of us are still caught off guard, leading us to oversleep and/or taking several days to adjust to the time-change, leaving us feeling groggy, sluggish, and foggy-headed (not to mention it can also make us miss workouts or slip on eating healthy further delaying our results!).
Here are a few quick and easy daylight savings time sleep tips to help out avoid the pitfalls of the twice-yearly occurrence.
#1 Schedule Bedtime
We schedule so many other aspects of our life -- meetings, dates, doctor appointments, workouts, etc. Yet, for being one of the most important (and essential) things of living a healthy life, sleep, a great many of us simply go to bed when we “feel” tired. However, a number of factors can influence whether you “feel” tired such as being around others, blue light bombardment, emotional or psychological stress, food and beverage intake, etc.
Maintaining a consistent bedtime can help keep a consistent circadian rhythm, making it that much easier to fall asleep (even during daylight savings time).
Other factors to help get better sleep each night include:
- Avoiding blue light from electronic devices at least 2 hours before bed (blue light disrupts melatonin production)
- Keep your room cool and dark
- Wear loose, comfortable clothing to sleep
- Have a good-quality pillow and mattress
- Listen to calming music
- Meditate/pray/journal/ stretch before bed
- Take a warm bath or shower
#2 Don’t Take Long Naps
Adjusting to the time change can leave many of us feeling groggy and in need of a nap. However, you need to be careful with napping. Taking too long of a nap and/or taking it too close to your actual bedtime can make it more difficult to fall asleep, thus causing you to still feel groggy the next day.
Now, don’t get us wrong. Napping is completely fine, and there’s even some research to show that it may help reduce stress, improve work productivity, and boost heart health.[1,2,3]
So, if you want to nap during the day, keep it brief (~20-30 minutes), and don’t take one too close to bedtime.
#3 Take a Morning Walk
The prospect of rolling out of comfortable bed and having to go to work or take a test isn’t the most enticing way to start the day, but lounging around in bed after your alarm goes off (or even worse, hitting the snooze button) can actually make you feel more lethargic instead of more rested.
A great way to naturally energize your mind and body is to start the day off with some light physical activity, such as a brisk walk. This increases circulation, floods your body with feel good chemicals like dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine, and boosts metabolism. It doesn’t need to be for very long either, as little as 10-20 minutes is enough to break a light sweat, burn some calories, increase insulin sensitivity, and heighten your mood!
#4 Eat “Right” for Better Sleep
We’ve harped on the importance of eating a healthy diet when it comes to building muscles, losing body fat, and getting results during a transformation challenge. Eating right is also essential for getting great sleep each night as well.
This includes not only choosing healthier food options but also identifying when the right time to eat is for your body.
A common myth was that you shouldn’t eat carbs after 6PM because they would turn to fat. This simply isn’t true, unless those carbs you're eating are in excess of your daily caloric requirements.
In fact, many individuals train hard in the late afternoons and evenings, and those carbs can actually help accelerate muscle recovery and replenish glycogen stores.
The reason you may (or may not) want to eat too close to bed has to do with your sleep. Eating too close to bedtime (within 30 minutes to 2 hours before bed) can lead to disrupted sleep, GI upset, and feeling overheated the whole night. Others can eat immediately before bed and sleep like a baby.
Experiment with the ideal meal times that allow you to have consistent energy levels during the day and great sleep at night. Also, don’t be afraid to evolve your meal timing based on your lifestyle and/or how your feel throughout the year.
#5 Consider Supplements
In addition to all of the other lifestyle tips we’ve mentioned, you can also try using a nighttime relaxation and sleep supplement to help adjust to daylight savings time. 1UP Nutrition offers several effective options to help wind down and promote a state of calm relaxation, including our men’s and women’s recovery and sleep supplements (Recharge PM and Beauty Dream PM) as well as our best-selling stress management supplement, RELAX.
Takeaway
Sleep is something a significant portion of the population struggles with on a regular basis, never mind. the added difficulties of daylight savings time. Use the tips above to help instill good sleep hygiene, and start getting the deep, restorative sleep your body needs every night, to feel more energized, be more productive, and get the results you want in the gym, at home, and in the office!
References
- Dutheil, F., Danini, B., Bagheri, R., Fantini, M. L., Pereira, B., Moustafa, F., Trousselard, M., & Navel, V. (2021). Effects of a short daytime nap on the cognitive performance: A systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(19), 10212.
- Souabni, M., Hammouda, O., Romdhani, M., Trabelsi, K., Ammar, A., & Driss, T. (2021). Benefits of daytime napping opportunity on physical and cognitive performances in physically active participants: A systematic review. Sports Medicine, 51(10), 2115–2146.
- Häusler, N., Haba-Rubio, J., Heinzer, R., & Marques-Vidal, P. (2019). Association of napping with incident cardiovascular events in a prospective cohort study. Heart (British Cardiac Society), 105(23), 1793–1798.
