The key to avoiding daylight savings time blues
Today, many folks over the Atlantic have been experiencing an extremely tough Monday morning.
People are feeling more sleepy, grumpy and bluesy than on any other Monday morning.
The reason is their night lasted an hour less because of daylight savings time.
Two weeks from now, daylight savings will hit Europe and people here will be feeling equally out of sorts.
Up until now, I´ve always been the only one unaffected by the daylight savings time blues. And year after year, I´ve been hiding the fact.
Or else I would have never made it through daylight savings Monday in one piece!
In order to avoid getting struck by the daylight savings blues, each year I start doing the same thing at the same day. The key works in little steps of 15 minutes per week.
Say I normally go to bed at midnight, and get up at 8 am, so:
Sunday 26 February go zzzzzz at midnight, get up Monday, 27 February at 8 am
Sunday 5 March go zzzzzzz at 11.45 pm/23.45 hrs, get up Monday 6 March at 7.45 am
Sunday 12 March go zzzzz at 11.30 pm/23.30 hrs, get up Monday 13 March at 7.30 am
Sunday 19 March go zzzzz at 11.15 pm/12.15 hrs, get up Monday 20 March at 7.15 am
Sunday morning 26 March at 2 am the clock goes forward an hour to 3 am, and so,
Sunday 26 March go zzzzz at midnight, and get up Monday 27 March at 8 am.
This way, you don´t miss out on a full hour of sleep. The most sleep you could miss out on, is 15 minutes, which will hardly make a difference to your body clock. Alternatively, you can start a week earlier.
If you´re in Europe and starting with the above schedule today, go to bed twenty minutes earlier starting tonight and rise twenty minutes earlier tomorrow morning. Do this all week. So, instead of going to bed at midnight, go at 23.40 hrs. And instead of getting up at 8 am, get up at 7.40. Next week, go to bed at 23.20 and get up at 7.20.
Then when daylight savings comes, you´ll only have twenty minutes to bridge, which is still a lot more convenient than an hour.
Americans, Canadians, and whomever else is sharing their daylight savings time changes, can start with this schedule eleven months from now. For Kiwi´s and Ozzies this would be approximately six months from today.
And so on, and so forth for every timezone in the world.
I wish you all a smooth(er) adjustment to daylight savings time (next year)!
Sleep well,
Recent Comments
23
USA, I was going to do this! Maybe next year.
Thanks! Great reminder and I hope all will follow this plan at WA, either this year or for we in the us, next year planning ahead!
I started 2 days prior, only, this time. Not doing too badly, no traffic accident for me! I was home, early safe and sound, staying out of trouble after a few errands after a short work day away from home.
Lynne
Hi, Lynne, great that the 2 days got you back home safe and sound!
If I remember I´ll do a repeat post on this next year in February
Interesting read Tezsie. I have to admit it does not affect me at all other than having to get used to the increased or decreased light at either end of the day.
Thanks for stopping in, Mark. I´ve heard this more often from people who go to work early. They don´t like daylight savings because then they have to get up and out in the dark again
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Thank you for this Tessa. Xx