Time to change the clocks again
Time change can wreak havoc on our bodies and minds. It has only been since the first World War that we tinkered with the clock and made time change in the spring. Are we fooling around with mother nature?Time change really disrupts our sleep patterns and can alter our health. A 2008 Swedish study found that heart attacks were significantly more common the first three weekdays after the spring transition and less common after the autumn transition. The Atlanta School of Sleep also reports there is an increase in accidents. Maybe we should all stay home and just rest this weekend.
The UCLA Sleep Disorders Center and Labortaory recommends not to shift your sleep patterns more than 2 hours from your normal sleep habits and to take a power nap. This time change can also alter your eating patterns. My stomach still tells me days later what time it was. I always need a snack around 3 pm but following the change I will be feeling it at 2 or 4 depending on which time change we are in.
The confusion will come tomorrow when we awake and ask ourselves what time is it really? And when we return to work Monday if the clocks have not sprung ahead we may get confused for those first few days. Thankfully the technology of our smartphones and computers the time change will be automatic and we won't have to spend time changing those clocks. Our bodies will be telling us one time and the clock will show us another time that is man-made.
How will you adjust to the time change?
