YOUR 2024 BRAIN BRAWN MINI RESOLUTION SPECIAL EDITION: INTRO TO SLEEP

Originally published March 4, 2024

Spring Forward Into Better Sleep
 
We are about to embark on an extended resolution around the cognitive benefits of sleep throughout March and some of April. What better way to get started than to prepare for the change in our clocks next weekend?
 
Each year, we spring forward into Daylight Saving Time (DST) the second Sunday in March and we fall back to Standard Time the first Sunday in November. The intention of the extra hour of daylight is to conserve energy, but it has a number of adverse health effects.
 
Beyond a sleep deprived society losing yet another hour of sleep when we spring forward, what is the reason DST is so disruptive to our internal clocks?
 
In essence, every cell in your body has an internal clock that controls your biology on a 24-hour schedule. This is known as the circadian rhythm (CR). The primary driver of the CR is our exposure to lightness and darkness. For optimal functioning, our CR requires exposure to bright light during the day, which keeps us alert and gives us energy during the day, and reduced amounts of light in the evening, which induces drowsiness to get a good night’s rest. However, the opposite happens after DST when it is darker in the morning and lighter in the evening. Your body’s natural CR becomes mismatched with the clock. A misaligned CR will leave you groggy in the morning hours and alert before bed, much like jet lag if you travel west to east.
 
A misaligned CR will not only interfere with your sleep patterns, but also disrupt the appropriate timing of the release of hormones which impact hunger/satiety, mood, immunity, and metabolism.

As a result, you might feel tired and grumpy. Furthermore, during this transitional period after DST starts, there are also associated health concerns, such as:

• A 30% increase in vehicle traffic accidents the day after DST goes into effect
• A 5.7% increase in work accidents
• A 3.9% increase in myocardial infarctions (heart attacks)
• A 3% increase in disorders of the digestive system in females and a 6% increase in disorders of the digestive system in males
• An increased risk of substance abuse
• An increase in reported mental and behavioral health disorders
• An increase in sundowning in Alzheimer’s patients

 
Many agree we should skip the bi-annual time change, and just change the clocks once per year. There are several national petitions circulating to stop “falling back” but most scientists agree eliminating “spring forward” would make more sense, because Standard Time is more closely aligned with our CR.
 
As of now, no changes have been made so we will be switching to DST next weekend.


How can we prepare for Daylight Savings?

• Starting Tuesday night, go to bed 15 minutes earlier each evening than the night before until the change happens. This will make that initial hour-long loss of sleep less challenging.
  
  
• Consider a lighter schedule on Sunday and Monday to allow your body to adjust.
  
  
• On Sunday and Monday limit naps to 20 minutes in duration. This will help to avoid a bad cycle of not sleeping and trying to catch up on sleep and then again not sleeping,
  
  
• From the time you rise until just after dinner, get as much exposure to daylight as possible.
  
  
• If it’s dark when you rise, try a daylight stimulating alarm clock, or stare out the window letting the sun hit your face for a few moments, allowing your eyes to be exposed to natural light. Be sure not to look directly into the sun.
  
  
• If you sit at a desk for most of your day, try to sit near a window, consider a desktop therapy light, and/or go for a walk outside during your lunch break. You’ll find we’ll repeat outdoor walks throughout many of our mini resolutions this year. This powerful biohack is invaluable to mental health, manages post-prandial blood glucose and helps you sleep better at night by syncing your CR.
  
  
• Monitor caffeine consumption. How quickly you metabolize caffeine is genetic, so you know best if it stimulates you and keeps you awake at night. If it does, make your last dose of caffeine 8 hours from your planned bedtime, as half of it should be metabolized by then. Did you know? There is little actual caffeine in chocolate. If you find chocolate stimulating, it is likely the effect of theobromine, a component of the cacao bean and in highest concentration in dark chocolate.
  
  
• Avoid alcohol at night. It may help you to fall asleep faster, but you likely won’t stay asleep through the night, interfering with the deep restorative stages of sleep.
  
  
• Exercise! Just avoid it close to bedtime when it might interfere with sleep.
  
  
• In conjunction with your concierge physician, consider eating within a restricted window of 8 hours a day (optimized if those 8 hours are during daylight hours).
  
  
• Lastly, as the night draws to a close, start to dim the artificial lights. This means dimming the overhead lights, reducing screen time/adjusting brightness and logging off 1-2 hours before bedtime, and ditching the TV. Consider a paperback book or a journal for entertainment before bed instead.

 
With these tips and tools, you can adjust your circadian rhythm and conquer the fog and grog of Daylight Savings. We’ll see you next week as we begin our next resolution to Sleep Better!
  
Feel free to email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele at [email protected] with your individual questions.