How to Prep Your Body
1. Go in With a Good Base of Sleep
The more consistent your sleep schedule is before the switch, the less of a change your body will have to make when the time change happens, Awad says. And be sure you’re regularly getting enough sleep. If you’ve been sleeping eight hours per night, one night of seven hours will be a lot less problematic than five hours on a schedule that’s usually six.
If you’re not on the healthiest sleep schedule currently, use the time change as a reminder to reevaluate how much sleep you’re getting and work on solidifying good sleep habits. “Treat sleep with the same dedication as other habits, like brushing your teeth or going to the gym,” Awad says. “It’s important.”
2. Shift Your Sleep Gradually Starting the Week Before DST
As DST approaches, start rolling your sleep back by about 15 minutes and moving your wakeup time 15 minutes earlier each morning. “That can help your body gradually adjust, instead of being hit with that one-hour time change,” Awad says.
So, if your usual bedtime is 11 p.m., get to bed at 10:45 the Monday before DST begins. The following night, try to call it quits around 10:30, and keep going until you’ve made it to the one-hour mark.
3. Push Back Your Dinner Gradually
“Another major driver of our circadian rhythm is food,” Awad says. Eating too close to bedtime can make it tough to fall asleep, because your body is too focused on digestion to think about winding down for the night.
In general, it’s a good idea to stop eating three to four hours before bedtime, Awad says. To prevent any disruption in that schedule, begin shifting your final meal (usually dinner) to an earlier time about one week before DST starts. Awad suggests shifting in 15-minute increments until you’ve hit one hour.
4. Switch All Your Clocks the Night Before DST Starts
Before going to bed the night before DST, be sure to move all your clocks ahead. Doing so may make the time change feel less confusing, says Whitney Hardy, MD, a family medicine physician at Ochsner Health Center in Gretna, Louisiana. Then, you’ll be ready to live according to the new time as soon as you wake up the next day.
5. Start Your Day With Sunlight
While some delay in your circadian rhythm after DST is inevitable, you can use natural sunlight to get your body clock as closely in tune with the sun clock as possible. “Getting light early in the morning is key,” Awad says.
Try to get 15 minutes of sunlight first thing in the morning. If you live in a warmer climate, you can get your sunlight outside. But even sitting next to the window while you drink your morning coffee will do the trick, Awad says. Later, avoid wake-promoting blue light from cell phones, laptops, and other electronic devices too close to bedtime.
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