Body Clocks Take A Hit This Weekend With Daylight-Saving Time

Main Category: Sleep / Sleep Disorders / Insomnia
Article Date: 06 Mar 2009 - 1:00 PDT

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Tick Tock. It's that time of year. Daylight-saving time begins at 2 a.m. this Sunday.

Officially, it's when clocks indeed spring forward, converting CST (Central Standard Time) into CDT (Central Daylight Time).

With it comes the delightful delusion that each day offers an extra hour of sunlight, a chance to get home and get a few things done before the sun sets.

"It sounds good, but it is really hard on children," said Richard Castriotta, M.D., director of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston. "The time change is even hard on parents. Moms and Dads will have to wake up children while it is still dark outside, plus, they will have to try and get their children to go to sleep when the sun is still up."

School-aged children need nine to 11 hours of sleep each night. If your child is younger than the age of 5, he or she needs about 12 hours of shut-eye. "When you try and put them to bed at night when the sun is still up, that might mean they fall asleep later. I am always concerned that children do not get enough sleep during daylight-saving time," Castriotta said.

Castriotta offered the following tips to help kids and adults adjust:

-- Start before Sunday. Before this weekend, begin your bedtime routine a little earlier each night to help your body clock adjust.

-- The same goes for waking up. Try and get up a little earlier each day. For kids, this will help them adjust to getting out of bed before the sun is up.

-- To help everyone get to sleep at night, try to make the room as dark as possible. Thicker curtains or a black-out shade may help.

-- If the sun isn't up yet, turn on bright lights in the morning to send a clear message to your body to WAKE UP!

-- Don't let the kids stay outside until the sun goes down. If you plan on starting the bedtime routine as soon as they come in, it may be difficult for them to unwind.

"You don't want them to feel the effects of the change on Monday morning," said Castiotta, medical director of the Sleep Disorders Center at Memorial Hermann Texas Medical Center. "The key is to start now."

In addition to health concerns related to lack of sleep, Castriotta said there are other risks associated with daylight-saving time. "We will have school-aged children out at the bus stops before the sun is up. If they are in a region where it is still cold, they also won't get the benefits of the sun helping warm them," he said. "It would be wise to have a talk with them about possible dangers."

University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
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