Daylight Savings Are You Ready?

As an adult Daylight Savings has just always been just a minor nuisance and I would always get caught up with my sleep at some point.  But since having children it has taken on a whole new meaning.    Not only so you lose more sleep but it seems like kids have an even harder time adjusting to the time change.   Everyone is in a cranky mood, including mommy and it just isn’t much fun.

There is one good thing about the up coming time change and that is that daylight sticks around longer so the kids can be outside playing.   I can hardly wait for the warmer weather that comes along with it so we can be outside taking evening walks as a family.   The boys have always  slept a million times better when they can get out and have a huge energy release.   I have had enough of the freezing cold, dreary skies, and brown grass.

This weekend we Spring forward, so now what?   I have found one very good method to helping the boys adjust to the time change.  It seems like the week leading up to it their sleep gets out of whack.   Just last night they were up at 4 am, so it is pretty obvious that their sleep rhythms are already sort of shifting.  Its weird, but I swear that the upcoming time change is to blame for this.  My two are on a very regular schedule so a big change can just have drastic effects.  My husband and I in the light of losing and hour have developed a 10 min a day move back.  Every night the week leading up to the time change we move them forward or back 10 minutes each day (in this case back 10 min).  Not only has this worked great, it is such a gradual change that the boys don’t even notice the difference.  Then by the time Sunday evening rolls around we are already adjusted.

You may experience some mild crankiness the first day or two in the week of the time change, but it is nothing compared to just moving them an hour all at once.

So, get ready to move your clocks forward!  I have my favorites about moving back (the obvious extra hour of sleep!) and my favorites about moving forward (warmer weather is coming!).  Cmon Spring!

Did You Know?

Analyzing 20 years of data, scientists in Sweden found that the number of heart attacks typically rises 6 to 10 percent for the three days after clocks jump forward; the day after the clocks are set back each fall, heart attacks fall by 5 percent. A lack of sleep may be to blame for the danger. Other studies have shown that chronic sleep deprivation is hard on the heart. This year, hit the sack early after resetting your clock. But you may not have to fret about your bedtime forever. The Swedish statistics suggest that people over 65 are less apt to be harmed by the time change — perhaps because retired folks are less tied to the clock.

This is a convincing reason to sleep in!