Do the daylight savings time changes affect you physically or mentally?

Question

It has always, always seemed to take me nearly two weeks to adjust. I wonder why that is. It doesn't seem to bother most people.

Answer 1

Setting clocks back is easy for me because we get that extra hour of sleep in the fall. But its in the spring when setting them forward is so difficult. I always thought that it would be nice if we could keep the fall ritual as it is. However, one Sunday each spring, let us set our clocks not one hour forward, but twenty-three hours backwards.

We will not lose an hour of sleep, but we will gain (almost) a day of rest. It will be Saturday all over again. Now, I'm sure this would mess up the calendar, but think of all of the advantages . . . you won't miss church, or the football game, or getting somewhere on time!

Answer 2

Lady G, and all who have trouble adjusting to the time changes, you have my sympathy!

It usually only takes me a day or two to adjust. I think I adjust quickly because I did shift work for many years. I hated working night shift when we had to "fall back" an hour! It meant I worked either 9 hours or 13 hours, yuck! Now-a-days, I routinely go to bed by 11:00 pm and am up by 5:00 am... However, I still take 'call' and am called late at night or very early in the morning periodically. I also go to some of my husband's gigs, which means we get home around 3 or 4 in the morning. I no longer bounce back the next day like I used to.

Here are some of the tricks I've used to adjust to time changes:

Make sure you get out in the sunshine for at least a few minutes each day.

Set a firm bed time in line with the 'new hours'; and then avoid the computer, TV, or anything that stimulates you, for about an hour and a half before your bed time.

Avoid caffeine after 3:00 in the afternoon.

Get into bed about 15 or 20 minutes ahead of your bed time; listen to some soothing music, use a little lavender oil on your wrists and temples-or spray some lavender on your pillow, and silently tell yourself a soothing "story".

I have used 'chemical aids' a time or two: hot chocolate 30 minutes before bed time, or small glass of red wine 1 hour before bed time (don't over do the wine or your sleep will be disrupted). My last resorts are either melatonin or 25 mg of benadryl-but only if I know I am not on call and can sleep at least 8 hours uninterrupted.

Sweet dreams folks.....I hope you all will adjust to the time change quickly!

Answer 3

It takes me a few days or so to adjust, I cannot understand why we have to keep on doing it. They say that we should cut down on electricity etc but by putting the clocks back we are having to switch on earlier.
Every time I switch the lights on it feels more like 7 or 8 in the evening not 4ish in the afternoon. Body and Brain are totally confused.
There are quite a lot of people, like you and me, that take a time to adjust!!!


Oh and I did hear that next year we are suppose to be putting the clocks 2 hours forward and 1 hour back - if this is true then we will need even more days to adjust!!!

Answer 4

It doesn't bother me, but it sure bothers my clocks..we have 6 atomic clocks and 4 of them went back to standard time this weekend..I would think if 1 went back they all would go back as they get their information from the same satellite. In the spring they all behaved properly..and jumped to daylight saving time @ the right time..my friend has 3 of them..2 + her computer changed time..strange goings on around here, hopefull the other 2 will change next Sun when they are suspossed to..

Answer 5

Well, yes. I love turning back the clock. An extra hour to sleep or get caught up on stuff. i get crabby in the spring, though, since I lose an hour. Why do they keep doing this, anyway? "Even" ranchers and farmers have clocks nowdays. Besides, it doesn't make the day any longer or shorter. Just attempts to make Mother Nature change to agree with human control.

Answer 6

My mum used to say daylight savings time effected babies and old people. I find in the last two weeks my body thinks the clock has already changed time , I'm sleepier in the morning and wide awake at night because my body's gone on standard time LOL.

Hopefully by next weekend it will have ' righted' itself.

Answer 7

Hey Lady G. does not affect me much either. But I do love Gladys`s answer and think it would be great to set them back 23 hours. That would shake things up a bit.I only get 1 day off a week and that is usually saturday so I would love that idea.2 whole days off in a row.Whatever would I do with myself.

Answer 8

I like daylight savings time. The worst thing is when it ends next weekend and I travel out of state to see family, it just gets dark so early.

Answer 9

It always affects me both psychically and mentally. I feel awful for about two weeks, tired and out of sots. Thank goodness, here in Queensland, we don't have it. I know it affects my daughter and grandchild as they have it. Especially is the summer, and we are now in Spring in the Southern Hemisphere. It was worse living in the UK. In the summer it was still light at 10PM at night. I know a lot of people who really are bothered by it.

Do you think it has something to do with our natural bodies out of sinc with the proper cycle of day and night. I do.

Answer 10

I have never really felt any difference but when I was working there was a guy that worked for me that would be a livid zombie for weeks after the change. Of course he was a genius that could use 4 pages of paper to come up with 10% and be wrong and then defend his answer with a red face and smoke shooting out his ears.