Spring is just around the corner, which means that so too is Daylight Saving Time (DST). While many people look forward to the start of DST all winter long seeing it as a marker of warmer, longer days ahead, making the actual shift is not always so simple for your body, mind or schedule.
Here are a few ways to “spring forward” with ease:
1. Expect mornings to be a bit touch and go for the first several days. You may be extra groggy as your body adjusts to the new schedule. Luckily, there are plenty of eye-opening ways to energize your morning, including getting some exercise (even if it’s just a quick 5-10-minute routine), playing up-tempo music, hydrating and eating a healthful, protein-rich breakfast. And of course, there is always coffee.
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2. Likewise, it may take a few days before you start to feel sleepy at your typical bedtime. Create a wind-down routine in the evenings that will help relax you and get you primed to feel sleepy. This can include meditation, journaling and shutting down devices that emit blue light.
3. You’ll already be losing an hour of the weekend when DST starts, so don’t waste any time manually setting your watches and clocks forward. For those who prefer a simple timekeeping device this process can be simplified. For example, by linking the Casio Edifice EQB1000D-1A to a smartphone, you can get the correct time not only in your current location, but for over 300 cities around the world (making travel smooth sailing as well). The watch accounts for both time zone and daylight saving time status of your current location, giving you one less to-do on this already short weekend.
4. If you like to eat meals at a fixed time, you can adjust your schedule gradually over the space of four days by bumping meal times 15 minutes at a time in order to give your stomach a chance to catch up with the clock.
Don’t let the transition to longer evenings create undue stress for you and your family. With some smart strategies, you can adjust to DST with ease.
