Daylight saving time and healthy sleep habits
The annual change to daylight saving time can feel disorienting and leave you struggling to function in your usual daily routine. Since getting enough high-quality sleep is an essential aspect of not just heart health, but overall health, disrupted sleep routines can have serious effects on your quality of life.
Maintaining healthy sleep habits when your schedule has to suddenly shift can be tough, especially when you have children or pets who simply don’t have any idea why things are different.
In this brief video, Antionette Williams Rutherford, MD, a sleep medicine physician, spoke on why daylight saving time can be so unsettling for both adults and children, as well as what adjustments we can make to help ease through the transition.
Dr. Rutherford offered tips and advice on building healthy sleep habits, including:
- Adjusting your bedtime by just a few minutes to encourage better quality of sleep
- How time spent out in the sun can actually help you sleep better at night
- Why naps can actually be counterproductive when you’re sleep-deprived after daylight saving time starts
- Ways to change your nighttime routine that help you transition to sleeping more deeply
- What to remove from your bedroom (or your child’s) to ensure easier sleep
- And more
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