Here’s How Daylight Savings Time Affects Your Body

For whatever reason, ever since we "fell back" for Daylight Savings, I noticed my body has been acting strange. It's been taking me awhile to wake up, and I've noticed a lack of energy in my body also. Then I came across an article of how daylight savings time affects your body. Thank goodness, I am not actually crazy, or lazy.

When it comes time to fall back, we actually gain an hour of sleep, for those of us who actually utilize that hour. Some of us who take naps in the afternoon or browse social media before bed won't get this benefit according to L. Lee-Chiong, Jr., M.D. who is a sleep expert and professor of medicine at the University of Denver. In addition, most won't take advantage of the extra hour due to the body's circadian clock and end up waking up earlier than usual. So instead of us actually benefitting from that hour of sleep, we still end up tired. It's sort of the feeling of being jet-lagged, which I definitely have been feeling.

To make matters worse, the winter comes with shorter days which leads to an increase of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Since we have less exposure to sunlight, some people actually experience a little sadness during the colder months.

So if you work a non-traditional schedule like I do, here is a little tip for next Fall Back Season: try going to sleep and waking up 10-15 minutes later each day a week before the time change. Also, allow yourself to nap!