When the clock "springs forward" at the start of Daylight Savings Time, it can be a big adjustment to your body's system. With the change coming earlier than ever -- on Sunday -- the effects can be even more pronounced.
The clock moves forward one hour at 2 a.m. Sunday March 14, making it harder to wake up, causing difficulty in staying alert and increasing the chance of sleepy-driving car crashes, doctors say.
Ronald D. Chervin, M.D., says Americans can prepare for the daylight-saving time switch. Chervin says it can be as simple as going to sleep and waking up earlier by 15 minute intervals in the days leading up to Sunday's change.
"Being prepared is important, especially if you need to be alert that day for any reason, particularly driving a car. Even one hour of sleep loss can affect some people," said Chervin, a professor of neurology at the University of Michigan and director of U-M's Sleep Disorders Center.
In the days immediately following the spring switch each year, more people have serious crashes, probably because of the sleep loss and adjustments that everyone's biological clock must make to the new schedule.
The first day of daylight-saving time is not the only time when the amount of sleep should be of concern, however. Chervin says most adults should get about eight to 8.5 hours of sleep a night, but many get less and are chronically sleep deprived. Those patterns can start in childhood.
"We generally spend one-third of life sleeping-or at least we should," Chervin says. "We're learning more and more about how that one-third has critical impact on the other two-thirds."
It's hard to find any aspect of health untouched by sleep, Chervin says. The brain of a person who does not get enough sleep-in quality and in quantity-is unable to operate efficiently. Health, emotions, memory and more are affected. Furthermore, sleep disorders also may increase risks of obesity, diabetes, stroke and heart attacks.
Chervin is also co-director of the University of Michigan's Center for Sleep Science, which is one of only three institutions thus far to be recognized as a Comprehensive Academic Sleep Program of Distinction by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
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