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March is here, and spring is just days away. With the upcoming arrival of spring, it means we’re about to endure the inevitable “spring forward” time change (unless you live in most of Arizona; Navajo Nation excluded.) That means our clocks go ahead one hour: it also means we lose an hour of sleep. For most people, the time change can take upwards of a week to adjust to. This loss causes sleep deprivation and sleepiness in most people, and can linger for days to weeks. Daylight Savings can also have adverse health effects, including elevated risk around cardiovascular diseases (such as heart attacks), injuries, mental and behavioral disorders, and immune-related diseases. In case you’re concerned about getting optimal sleep following Daylight Savings, these five tips can help.
Start Preparing in Advance
A few days before Daylight Savings starts, try to go to bed 15 to 30 minutes earlier than you normally do in advance. This will help you get a jump on the hour time change once it happens. If you’re not tired at bedtime, try a hot shower or bath, or try optimizing your sleep with a nighttime sleep beverage such as Beam.
- Hot Shower: A University of Texas analysis conducted on the topic, and published in Sleep Medicine Reviews, suggests that either a warm bath or shower before bed can help a person fall asleep and improve sleep quality - even in the heat of summer. And the optimum time to take one might be an hour or two before going to bed.
- Beam: Beam Dream Powder contains five natural sleep ingredients: Nano Hemp, Reishi, Magnesium, L-Theanine and Melatonin. Combined into a powder that tastes like hot cocoa, the blend may help you fall asleep, stay asleep and wake up refreshed. According to 9 Elements Podcast host Eric Hinman, “As an athlete, I am super up-to-date on the optimal sleep stats, and I notice that mine are MUCH better when I take Dream. This definitely translates to my training the next day. When I’ve gotten enough sleep, and REM and Deep Sleep at the proper amounts, my body functions optimally and I hit my targets more frequently. It’s just science.”
Stop Caffeine Intake Six Hours Before Bedtime
A 2013 study found that caffeine taken six hours before bedtime has important disruptive effects on sleep and provides empirical support for sleep hygiene recommendations to refrain from substantial caffeine use for a minimum of six hours prior to bedtime. This means, skip that afternoon coffee, and if you’re out to dinner, definitely skip the after-dinner coffee or tea. This also applies to most colas and energy drinks. And while we’re on the topic of dinner, pick an earlier dinner time so your body can concentrate on rest instead of digest.
Reduce Screen Time
Blue light exposure, the same type of light emitted from your phone and laptop, tricks your brain into thinking it’s still daytime. Fortunately, there are ways around this. Most sleep experts will say, lay off screen time up to two hours before you plan on going to sleep, but as we all know, that’s a tall ask. So you can work around it by using apps that block blue light and also glasses that block blue light.
Don’t Sleep In
Getting up at the same time, even on weekends, keeps your sleep cycle more regular. A 2009 study from Taiwan suggested that maintaining an inconsistent sleep schedule among students resulted in a decrease in average sleep time and quality per day. And according to Jessica Lunsford-Avery, PhD, assistant professor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University School of Medicine, “The more irregular the sleep pattern, the higher the risk for obesity, hypertension, and elevated blood sugar, and the higher the projected risk of developing heart disease over the next decade. Keeping bed and wake times as consistent as possible may have benefits for health.”
Consider a Visit to Restore
Whole Body Cryotherapy may help the body boost sleep, and both Mild Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy and Red Light Therapy may help the body optimize sleep. Essentially, Restore Hyper Wellness has a service to help you feel better than you thought possible, despite the time change!
Curious about Services at Restore? We can help get you started.
