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Maintaining a sleep schedule ahead of Daylight saving time

According to the Better Sleep Council, 39-percent of folks are in worse moods following the time change. Dr. Archana Rao says that can be avoided if you adjust your sleep schedule in increments leading up to the change.

The start of Daylight saving time is a wonderful reminder that spring is just around the corner. However, it is also a reminder that ‘springing forward’ means losing an hour sleep the next day.

For many, that is daunting when getting a restful night’s sleep is so crucial. Dr. Archana Rao is sleep doctor at the San Angelo Community Health Center. She says preparation for the hour lost should start weeks before Daylight saving time begins.

“I would start the weekend before so you can start to compensate for the hour lost this weekend,” says Dr. Rao.

She says that changing a sleep schedule to begin with takes time and shouldn’t be done overnight.

According to the Better Sleep Council, 39-percent of folks are in worse moods following the time change. Dr. Rao says that can be avoided if you adjust your sleep schedule in increments leading up to the change.

“I like to adjust by 30-minutes leading up to the time change,” says Dr. Rao, “that way you’re ready to go Monday without much of a sleep loss.”

For adults, this might seem easy to do as it’s something we’ve been doing since the Daylight saving time bill was proposed by congress in 1917. That bill enacted the first observance of the time change, Mar. 31, 1918. Then, in 1966, congress passed the Uniform Time Act.

For kids, Dr. Rao says mentally prepare them by sending them to bed a half-hour early. Despite that fact there’s an additional hour of daylight at the end of the day.

“I usually stop activities close to bedtime that way they actually wind down to get ready to go to bed earlier,” she explains.

Daylight saving time begins Mar. 11, 2018 at 2:00 A.M.

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