How Goes Daylight Savings Time?

Most of the US switched our clocks forward an hour over the weekend. At the moment, I’m mostly enjoying that it’s not getting light before 7am and the sun doesn’t set until about 7pm. (Remember, I’m up at latitude 47 – we get almost 16 hours of sunlight in late June, and less than 9 in late December.)

Usually I hate the switch back to standard time in fall, and am often sleep-deprived for a week after the “spring forward”. I do tend to adjust to daylight time as spring goes on, probably because the days get longer anyway. Today’s “Really?” column pulled together some research on how daylight savings time can screw up sleeping and cause other health problems.

How’s it going for you all?

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Posted

March 10, 2009

News, Sleep

Living 400lbs

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15 responses to “How Goes Daylight Savings Time?”

Jen

March 10, 2009

I hate daylight savings time and am thinking it’s time we just said goodbye to that outdated idea.

Adjusting is easier in the spring than the fall I have to say.

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vesta44

March 10, 2009

It doesn’t bother me anymore, since I’m not working. I get up at 4 a.m. with DH so I can give him his insulin before he leaves for work (he’s squeamish about giving himself shots, and I’m not) and then I go back to bed for another couple of hours. So it’s always daylight when I get up for good for the day, and it’s always dark when I go to bed (since I’m a night owl and don’t usually go to bed until midnight or 1 a.m.). But when I was working, it threw my schedule all out of whack.
DH doesn’t like it much, since it was just starting to be light when he got to work at 5 a.m. and now it’s dark again then, but it is still light when he gets home around 6:45 p.m. (he works 12 hours days, 7 out of 14 days on a staggered schedule).
Personally, I don’t think it saves that much on energy, I mean, what does it matter if you’re using lamps/etc in the morning or in the evening? You’re still using them for about the same amount of time either way, and disrupting your internal clock for that doesn’t seem to be worthwhile.

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Lori

March 10, 2009

I hate it. Hate it. Down with DST!

Last night I had to spend a ridiculous amount of time explaining to my distraught child why he had to go to bed even though it was still light outside, because it’s now light out until about 7:45 p.m., and by the time we get to June, it will be light out until 9:30 or later.

Then this morning it was pitch dark when I had to drive to work at 7:30 a.m., so much so that I actually became so disoriented for a moment (because for the last couple of weeks it’s finally been light out when I leave) that I started to wonder if I’d gotten massively confused and it was actually 7:30 p.m.

I am not a fan of springing ahead.

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Caitlin

March 10, 2009

I quite like it, because while it does mess with my body clock, the SAD-combatting effects of the extra hour of daylight at night are magical. I get really happy really quickly. (I don’t feel the effects of the extra darkness in the morning because for the first few hours of each day I wish I were dead anyhow. And I’m rarely ever up before 8am.)

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1. living400lbs
  
  March 10, 2009
  
  That’s been my experience so far this year. I am somehow much more Hopeful and Happy. Weird!! :)
  
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Regina530

March 10, 2009

“Spring Forward” is always confusing for me both physically and mentally. For the first week or so, this is what goes on in my head whenever I look at the clock:
Self: “It’s 7 am”
Other Self: “No it’s not. It’s really 6 am”
Self: “No, silly. It’s really 7 am”
Other Self: “I’m so confused!!!!”
I do this for a good 10 days until I stop looking at the clock altogether just to keep the insanity away!

Physically, I am cranky and feel “off” all day long. The position of the sun messes with my hunger signals and the whole day’s routine is out of whack.

I am much better with the fall back. I get giddy knowing I have an extra hour of sleep for a week or so.

The only plus I get from the extra sunlight this time of year is that it warms my Midwestern roots and lifts the S.A.D. of winter. By mid- May I am chomping at the bit to get out on the boat to shrimp, fish, and crab. Bring on the sun!

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Elizabeth

March 10, 2009

I live north of you, and I have the opposite reaction. I can’t stand it when it’s dark past 6am (which, granted, is often around here), and switching to DST always feels like I’m ALLLLMOST there….then, BANG! Sorry! Wait a month or two…

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1. Lori
  
  March 11, 2009
  
  I feel the same way, except here after DST it’s almost 8 am before the sun comes out! I can’t stand it. I wake up at 5:30 am most days, and being up for 2-1/2 hours before the sun starts to peak through starts to wear on me, and it’s always a big let down when, just as the sun finally starts rising earlier, we have to switch the clocks ahead and are right back where we started.
  
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Tiana

March 10, 2009

Over here in Germany it’s still “winter time” as we call it, but I’m looking forward to the mornings and not so much to the evenings. I go to bed early, so I’ll feel like a little kid in a few months because it won’t be completely dark yet.

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1. living400lbs
  
  March 11, 2009
  
  June and July are the worst for me. My body expects a few hours of dark before sleeping, and to wake up either as it’s getting light or before it gets light. When it gets dark at 9:30 and light at 5 I end up having trouble sleeping more than 5 hours – and I’m a 8-hour sleeper!
  
  This is why I love my sleep mask :)
  
  Reply
Patsy Nevins

March 11, 2009

I am an early riser & an early to bed person, & I really do not ‘get’ the whole idea of changing the clock back & forth. In the end, you are still getting more daylight from late December to late June & less daylight from late June to late December, so why mess with it? I right now am adjusting to it still being dark for another hour or more after I wake up, though more daylight in the afternoon is nice, but overall I don’t see, until we get further into Spring, how much difference there is in how long I need lights on. Today it is dark, gray, & rainy, so it doesn’t matter; I need lights to be able to see well all day long.

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spoonfork38

March 11, 2009

My almost-two-year old hasn’t adjusted yet, so I am not adjusting very well, either. Instead of falling asleep at 8:30, she’s going down about 9:30. I get up at 5:30.

Sooooo tired!

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Bree

March 11, 2009

The first day of spring forward, I sleep much later than I usually do and I’m more tired than usual. Monday night, I developed a tiny cold (but that’s due to Maryland’s crazy weather changes from 70 degrees one day down to 40 the next). But the cold was draining enough for me to stay home from work yesterday. Today, I still don’t feel 100 percent. But it doesn’t take long for me to adjust to the time change. At least it stays lighter out longer!

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The Bald Soprano

March 11, 2009

I always find the first month of summer time to be difficult, especially when I have morning classes/appointments/work. (I’m NOT looking forward to my gyn appointment in April at 9:30 in the morning)

I’m also messed up this month because my internalized NY-time is wrong. (I live in Germany.)

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