Thinking about sleeping in this Sunday? Here’s why you shouldn’t.
As you probably already know that Saturday Night at 2 am, Daylight Saving Time kicks in, and we fall back which means everyone gets an extra hour to do as they please. But what they shouldn’t do with that hour is sleep, says Dr. Alon Avidan, director of UCLA’s Sleep Disorder Center. Sleeping in for an extra hour can “wreak havoc on our circadian rhythms,” he tells The L.A. Times, instead advising the following tips:
Later to bed and later to rise also means more light exposure when people wake up, which — along with social cues, like a later dinner — “can have a positive effect on their circadian patterns,” Avidan said.
Avoid caffeine at least six hours before going to bed, detach from computer, TV and phone screens, and lay off the alcohol, which, instead of knocking you out, can act as a stimulant and make sleep less restful.
Reset all your clocks. True, our phones and other smart devices will update to standard time automatically, but search your house to make sure you haven’t overlooked any more-primitive timepieces — the analog clock hanging on the wall or the digital ones on the stove or coffeemaker. And double-check — that device you think is dumb may have reset itself and outsmarted you into setting it two hours back. Also, don’t forget the car’s dashboard clock; one wrong display can throw off your entire schedule. Thankfully, most people no longer have to contend with blinking VCRs.
and one last piece of important info remember to change out your batteries on your smoke detectors, so you can stay safe, that 9volt may have beeped all day while you were at work and now it’s completely dead so change it and get some rest
