Daylight Savings Time: Spring Forward with Wellness
March 14th marked yet another Daylight Saving Time, where we spring forward into warmth and renewal. However, this spring reset also comes with losing an hour of sleep. An hour of lost sleep doesn’t seem like much, but this change in daily pattern throws off our circadian rhythm, or internal clock, and can have severe health impacts.
This internal clock is what our body runs off of, telling us when to carry out essential functions and processes with each tick. This includes when to sleep, wake up, release hormones, eat, regulate body temperature, digest, and other essential actions that help us feel our best. Daylight Savings Time yanks these internal timers out of sync- particularly in the springtime because most people find it harder to get up earlier than to stay up later. The side effects this lack of sleep bring can be severe and, as noted by Paula Spencer Scott, include: