Many people are sleepier for a few days around the daylight saving time change.
- Why do you feel more tired with the time change?
- Why are women more affected by the time change?
- 7 tips to adapt to the time change
- Why is the time changed?
- Summer time is worse
The human being is an animal traditions and although the summer time change brings us afternoons with more hours of sun, it is true that in the morning we sleep one hour less and the body must adjust to the new time.
Why do you feel more tired with the time change?
The biological rhythm, that internal clock with which our body works, is basic to our health. It is proven that when it is deregulated it affects us, as people with jet lag or those who have a night job can see. In addition to tiredness stomach problems or skin aging are some of the proven effects.
Also the lag of one hour that occurs with the time change alters the biological rhythmalthough to a lesser extent.
Why are women more affected by the time change?
In a high percentage, the woman continues to assume more domestic tasks, in addition to work, for this reason the feeling of tiredness and of not being able to reach everything becomes more pronounced with the time change.
Upon reaching menopause, in addition, the woman already experiences greater hormonal fluctuations, which can affect sleep and mood. “Advancing or backwards the clock or any change that involves an alteration of the biological rhythm will worsen these symptoms”as explained by the teacher Antonio Cano, Professor of Psychology and President of the Spanish Society for the Study of Anxiety and Stress (SEAS).
7 tips to ADAPT TO THE TIME CHANGE
There are some things you can do to adapt to the time change at the end of March, so that it is not so traumatic.
- Don’t change abruptly. Early bedtime fifteen minutes each day and get up a little earlier. If you do it little by little over a week, the change will be almost imperceptible. You can apply the same rule with the timing of meals.
- Do not compensate the tiredness with naps. If you do, especially if you weren’t in the habit of napping, you further upset your internal clock.
- Take advantage of the afternoons. Now that the days are getting longer, take advantage of the afternoons to walk.
- Do exercise. Movement activates our body. Although it may seem contradictory, physical exercise it will give you energy to be able to arrive in better conditions at the end of the day.
- Keep the same meal timeseven if you are less hungry.
- Try to make light dinners and at least two hours before bedtime.
- Include foods rich in tryptophanan essential amino acid for the secretion of melatonin and which favors restful sleep: banana, dark chocolate, dairy products, eggs, fish, legumes, nuts…
These tips will help you smoothly transition to the new schedule. In any case, it is still a mild disorder that has no major problems. “It has been seen that in just 4 days people usually adapt to the time change”clarifies the doctor Francisco Marín, primary care physician. “Although people over 50 need more one day because with the passing of the years the ability to adapt decreases”.
WHY IS THE TIME CHANGED?
We have now had two time periods. On the last Sunday of October we enter winter time and at the end of Marchinstead, we advance the clock to put ourselves in summer time. And all this disorder is because energy saving has been found. Since it is difficult to make us change our habits, the clock is forced so that we get up earlier and use less artificial light.
The idea, which has not ceased to provoke endless debates, is not new. In the 19th century it was already raised and at the beginning of the 20th century, during the First World War, it was already launchedwith the idea of saving coal, the main energy at that time.
The idea was taken up again in 1981. The first years this change was made at the end of September and since 1996 it was established that it was in October. It is made in Europe and in much of the rest of the world. Although not all countries apply it on the same day. The European Parliament approved a regulation to end the time change in 2021 but it has not been applied.
SUMMER TIME IS WORSE
If the rule is controversial, in Spain is even more, since We don’t even have the time zone that would correspond to us, which is the Greenwich meridian, the same as England or Portugal. The reason is very curious. After the Civil War, the government of General Franco adopted the time of his European alliesmainly Hitler’s Germany.
Afterwards it did not change even with the advent of democracy. The surprising thing is that Returning to the schedule that in theory corresponds to us would be very simple. It would be enough to do nothing. When the other countries advance the clock in March to put it in daylight saving time, if we do not, we would equate ourselves back to Greenwich Mean Time.
It could be a little breather for our body, since the change of summer is even worse. As Dr. Marín indicates, “When the clock is advanced one hour (in spring) it is more common to suffer a kind of jet lag. During that time, pathologies that worsen when sleeping little or badly can worsen, such as headaches and migraines.. There are even studies that support that taking away the hour of sleep increases the risk of having a heart attack the next day.
