What To Do Before & After Daylight Saving To Make Sure It Doesn't Mess With Your Sleep

Brighter days are ahead: In the wee hours of the morning on Sunday, March 10, American clocks will jump forward an hour. While the shift will lead to lighter skies later in the day, it might not do such sunny things to our health.

Studies show that most people lose between 40 and 60 minutes of sleep1 in the night that we turn the clock. That might not sound like such a big deal, but population-wide data has found that the rate of heart attacks, strokes2, and mood disorders in the U.S. temporarily increases following the spring forward. On a personal level, the sleep loss can leave people feeling groggy, irritable, and hungry for junk food. (Funnily enough, once upon a time, Idaho potato supporters lobbied for daylight saving time [DST] because they saw that the fast-food industry sold so many more french fries after it hit.)

"One hour is enough to make a difference," sleep researcher Rebecca Robbins, Ph.D., says. But, she adds, we don't necessarily need to resign to heading into spring feeling sleepy. "Here's what you do: Start preparing about a week in advance [...] try to really make sleep your priority, now more than ever."

The best way to ensure that daylight saving doesn't catch you off guard is to get ahead of it. If you're already in the routine of going to bed (and waking up) an hour earlier than usual by next weekend, the time difference shouldn't affect you too much.

Again, the name of the game is getting your sleep routine in tip-top shape before next weekend. "It's really important that we don't start out with accumulated sleep debt, as this will make the consequences of losing sleep even greater," Troxel explains.

And finally, remember that even if your DST prep doesn't go as planned, you will get your sleep back on schedule eventually. Allow yourself a little extra grace in the meantime.

And if you share the bed with someone, extend them the same courtesy. Troxel, who specializes in how sleep disorders affect couples, has seen that DST can cause temporary rifts in relationships—especially if one person is a night owl and has trouble adjusting to the earlier schedule.