Daylight savings is when you turn the clocks forward or backward an hour to make more use of the extended daylight during the warmer months and maximize activities during the more limited daylight hours of cooler months. But it's quite common for people to oversleep or be late the day after they "Spring Forward or Fall Back." It may only be an hour's adjustment, but if you're like most Americans, you're chronically sleep-deprived. The adjustment can take weeks and have a huge toll on your productivity. It helps to go to bed 15 minutes early each night for four days prior to the changeover, says the National Sleep Foundation. In addition, help the little ones in your household by getting them up gradually earlier or later, depending on the shift.
Your body operates on a 24-hour clock, commonly referred to as your circadian rhythms. This internal clock goes off kilter for days when you travel to a different time zone. This is jet lag, and it has a profound effect on your ability to sleep and maintain alertness at appropriate times. The National Sleep Foundation recommends several steps to minimize jet lag. To the extent possible, start adjusting to your destination time zone days before you travel. Try to select a flight that arrives in the early evening and stay up at least until 10 p.m. local time. Avoid alcohol and caffeine in the hours close to local bedtime. Heavy meals are also a no-no. And whenever it's sunny, go outside. The sun helps to reprogram your internal clock.
If you travel across time zones frequently, you already know business travelers tend to over-rely on over-the-counter sleep medications. Try melatonin instead. The University of Maryland Medical Center reports that supplementing melatonin helps people with disrupted circadian rhythms to sleep better. One business traveler, who flies more than 10 days a month, told the "Wall Street Journal" that getting some exercise as soon as he touches down in his new destination helps him to reset to the new time. Jogging, no matter the hour, he said, tires him out and shakes the jet lag off. Officials at the Cleveland Clinic agree that even trying to get some physical activity on your flight can help prevent jet lag. The clinic suggests you breathe deeply, roll your feet, raise your knees, lift your arms overhead and walk around as often as you can.
The Cleveland Clinic and others recognize jet lag as a syndrome of sorts. It's not a disease in the sense that it requires specialized treatment, but it does involve a set of symptoms that could be dangerous to your health and the safety of others, such as when you attempt to drive or operate heavy machinery while sleep-deprived. A drugmaker, Cephalon, as late as 2010 was seeking approval from the FDA to have its sleep-disorder drug be marketable as a jet lag treatment. The FDA agreed to review, but grounded the review for further study. If you travel frequently, drive trucks, work a late shift or have a need for alertness when your body wants to sleep, your doctor may have options that could help.
