Clocks are going forward this weekend – here’s 5 ways to prepare, according to a sleep expert
We all want a peaceful night’s sleep to feel refreshed and ready to tackle the next day.
However, with Daylight Savings Time next Sunday, 26th March, we could all see a disruption to our usual sleep routine. Thankfully, there are ways to make sure your precious sleep is not disturbed by the changing hours, according to a sleep expert.
On behalf of BettingSites.co.uk, expert James Wilson says clocks going forward is a small change that would be difficult to adjust at first, but by preparing ahead, “you should be okay.”
On behalf of BettingSites.co.uk, sleep expert James Wilson (also known as The Sleep Geek) said:
Accept there will be a change
James Wilson: “Accept there will be a change and some disturbance to our sleep. But the good thing is that the first morning we have to deal with it is a weekend, a Sunday. When the clocks go forward, we lose an hour of sleep in theory. If you’re used to getting up at seven o’clock on Sunday, it will actually be eight o’clock because we’ve gone back an hour.”
Lower the heating and relax before getting to bed
JW: “You need to feel cooler to fall asleep, so you need to drop to a cold temperature. I would say firstly drop in heart rate and temperature, make sure that before you are sleepy, make sure that before bedtime, you are doing things that are relaxing.
“If you have a partner, sleep with two duvets instead of one. I think for women in particular, because of the week of your period and the week before your period, your core temperature is a little bit too hot to sleep with someone next to you and making you hotter that’s not good. And then you might like a light duvet and your partner might like a heavy duvet at that time.”
Don’t set up an alarm on Sunday
JW: “However, on Sunday, don’t set an alarm so you can still sleep to whatever time you want to sleep to. But I would suggest that on Sunday morning, sleep at the time you want to sleep. If you normally fall asleep at 11pm, on Sunday night you might feel sleepy a bit later because what is usual 11pm now is 10pm. So you may not be quite ready for sleep and obviously, you’re going to benefit later on Monday morning. So I think it’s an acceptance that yes, you might feel a little bit fuzzier on those days.”
Get lots of daylight
JW: “Get lots of daylight on Sunday and Monday morning, this helps reset the body clock and helps your body understand that this is now morning. And like I say, don’t rush to bed and get lots of natural light early in the day and your body will start to adjust to it after a couple of days.”
Don’t worry about it
JW: “And ultimately don’t worry too much about it. The biggest problem with changing clocks is created by people thinking, ‘an hour changing in our sleep routine, we’re going to die’. You will generally have a lag at the weekend that lasts longer than an hour. It’s quite a relatively small change. The first couple of days will be difficult, will be harder, but not impossible. You should be okay.”
Liam is a content writer for Betting Sites. He has 7 years of experience writing articles on trending topics including sports and finance. Liam has a passion for analysing trending data and has had his data shared in publications including New York Times, BBC and 1000's more.
