Daylight saving time can often disturb sleep patterns for many Canadians, but a U of A expert says there are ways you can keep your sleep schedule on track.
Twice a year, Albertans reset their clocks for daylight saving time and begin the more difficult task of resetting their internal clock as well. While daylight saving time has been accepted for decades by most Canadians, it can play havoc with sleep patterns no matter your age.
Albertans will see the time fall back an hour on November 4. To ensure you get the best rest you can, here are some pointers to ponder from U of A sleep expert Joanna MacLean, a University of Alberta associate professor of pediatrics, member of theAlberta Respiratory Centre and the medical director for the Sleep Lab at the Stollery Children's Hospital.
What are some of the common issues that you see in your work when it comes to daylight saving time?
We see fewer problems with the time change in the fall but there's data to suggest that the spring time change, where we lose an hour, has potentially more health effects that may be related to not getting enough sleep. Things like heart attacks in adults and car accidents are more likely to occur in the week following the time change.
Part of the problem with daylight saving time is that many of us are not getting enough sleep on a regular basis, and not operating based on our biological rhythms by ignoring our body telling us when we need to sleep. Whether you're an adult or a child, most people aren't getting enough sleep. So when you have that one-hour shift, it becomes a bigger problem if you're not well-rested to begin with.
What impact does sleep deprivation have on a person?
The impact becomes more pronounced when you have people who are already sleep-deprived and lose additional sleep due to the time change. Reaction time is slowed and decision making capacity is impaired. Sleep deprivation also changes metabolism, increases inflammation and puts our body in a stressed state. What we call acute on chronic sleep deprivation tends to be the worst combination. So if you're chronically sleep-deprived and then you have an acute loss of an hour, you're going to be more impaired than if you're simply chronically sleep-deprived.
While there are more noticeable problems with daylight saving time in the spring, are there any concerns in the fall when we gain an hour?
Because we get that extra hour of sleep in the fall it doesn't seem to have as big of an effect, but you still need to think ahead. Kids often don't deal with those kinds of changes in schedule as well as adults. But there are some adults that don't do well with change either. So I think it's being prepared in terms of what that change is going to mean.
Maintaining a regular sleep schedule is important. A lot of us on the weekends like to stay up late on Friday night, sleep in on Saturday, stay up late on Saturday night, sleep in on Sunday and then find it hard to get to sleep on Sunday night. You start the week with what is often referred to as a Monday morning hangover because you have not gotten the amount of sleep that you would typically for the other days during the week.
The more we maintain a regular sleep schedule-which no one particularly likes to be told-the better off we are. Ideally your bedtime stays at a similar time and your wake-up time in the morning on the weekends shouldn't vary by more than an hour from your wake-up time during the week. The more you can maintain your sleep schedule, the less you're going to feel the impact of that one-hour change on Monday morning.
For parents, is it useful to try and ease into a new sleep schedule as compared to an abrupt change?
Yes. Some people will do this when they're traveling and try to get onto the time zone that they'll be arriving at. I think that there is benefit in terms of a gradual shift. As humans, we tend to be better at doing things slowly as opposed to more abrupt things. So figuring out a schedule that will help ease into the time change will make a difference from a bedtime point of view.
I think it's a good opportunity with daylight saving time to look at your overall sleep schedule and see if you can make adjustments to make sure that you're getting the amount of sleep you should be getting.
Are we as a society chronically sleep-deprived?
Yes we are. I don't think we see sleep as being important to our health. In North America, there is almost a competition in terms of how little we sleep―people brag about only needing four or five hours of sleep a night to function. But there's good data to say that degree of sleep deprivation is unhealthy and associated with neurocognitive impairments such as poor choice making.
What are some practical tips people should think about to get a better rest?
Daylight saving time in the fall is kind of a marker of when the days are getting shorter. It used to be that we didn't have electric lights and as days got shorter, you got more sleep because there wasn't light. We now have the means of artificially changing the things that keep us awake. So we need to be conscious when the days are getting shorter because high-intensity lights inside are going to tell our brain that it's time to be awake as opposed to time to go to sleep. We should be thinking about ways to decrease that bright light exposure, whether it's dimming lights in the evening time as you get closer to bedtime or restricting screen time within an hour of bedtime.
What other advice is there for those who struggle with the adjustment in their sleep schedule due to daylight saving time?
We know that exercise improves the ability to fall asleep and the quality of sleep that we get. The one thing to be aware of is timing. Exercise in the evening can make it hard to fall asleep. Generally the recommendation is to not exercise within two hours of bedtime but that can vary, so figure out what time you can exercise and at what intensity to still be able to get to sleep easily and on time.
Screentime is probably the biggest impediment to sleep nowadays. You should be looking at not only the amount of screen time you are exposed to, but when you're using screens and then reducing their use around bedtime.
And then the one thing that everybody really doesn't want to talk about, which is caffeine intake. Lots of people say caffeine has no impact on them being able to get to sleep. We know that even if it doesn't stop you from getting sleep, it does actually shift some of the rhythms for sleep. So you may not be getting the same quality sleep for the time that you're sleeping; reducing or eliminating caffeine could make your sleep time more efficient.
How helpful are the mental exercises that many parents use with their kids?
They're absolutely helpful if you're somebody that has trouble shutting off at night. It's individual in terms of what people need in terms of shutting off, but the more your brain is stimulated the harder it is to fall asleep. So whether it's breathing exercises, meditation, or reading something that has nothing to do with what you do during the day, those kinds of things can be helpful to help support your internal rhythms to get ready to fall asleep.
It's the same for adults as it is for kids. Some of the sleep problems that we see in adults likely start in childhood. We sort of assume that kids can get good sleep; it's just that they don't want to go to sleep. But I see lots of children in my clinic who have the same kind of problems that you see in adults and if we figure those out when we're younger, then we set up good sleep in adulthood.
Are there any good routines that you recommend for parents?
It's figuring out something that is going to work for you because everybody is different in terms of the things that are stimulating and things that are calming for them. For instance, a lot of people think about having a warm bath before going to bed as something that's calming. But for some people that's actually energizing and not the right activity for them. So I think it's important to figure out what it is for yourself or for your child that will help you wind down for the night. Eliminating screen time at least one hour, if not more, before bed time is a good start. Then figuring out quiet activities that help get you get ready for sleep. This could include a bath-if that is calming, reading, story telling, meditation or anything that sets you up to fall asleep.