Daylight Savings Time. Ugh, it is a struggle sometimes. I’ve been noticing that my body is struggling to sleep until my intended wake time. My Oura Ring has helped me figure out that my body does best when I sleep from 10:30 PM to 6:30 AM. Before the time change, I was often waking up between 5:30 and 6 AM and then doing a 30 minute hypnosis or two so that I could still get good rest (and heal my nervous system) until it was time to get up. But now that the clocks have changed, my body seems to think that I should wake between 4:30-5 AM because that’s the time it’s used to getting up. I’ve had parents telling me that their kids are waking earlier this week too! Oura put a post on their blog that I thought was super interesting about the impact of daylight savings time on sleep. I am taking what I learned and taking some proactive steps for the spring, and I thought I would pass them along.
Oura says:
When you “spring forward” (when DST begins): Shift your bedtime and wake time earlier. The clock will be moved forward by one hour at 2am, so you should adjust your bedtime and wake time to be an hour earlier than your current schedule. You can do this by shifting your bedtime by 15 minutes per day over four days to gradually adapt to the new time schedule.
When you “fall back” (when DST ends): Shift your bedtime and wake time later. In this case, you gain an hour, so you can adjust your schedule by gradually moving your bedtime and wake time an hour later in 15-minute increments.
Here in the U.S., our next time change is going to be Sunday, March 8, 2026. So I am shifting my calendar NOW. Here’s my personal adaptation:
Saturday, February 28 and Sunday, March 1 I marked dog walks and lunch 15 minutes earlier than usual on my calendar.
Monday, March 2 through Friday, March 6 I marked dog walks and lunch 30 minutes earlier on my calendar. This will shift my client availability that week, but also will be an opportunity to talk about WHY I am doing it.
Saturday, March 7 I marked dog walks and lunch 45 minutes earlier than usual.
So then hopefully by the time the clock actually changes on March 8, my body (and Charlie’s body) will adjust more easily.
Also, do remember to go outside for morning sunlight even if it’s just for 5-10 minutes. This will also help your body to shift melatonin production to happen at the right time.
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