How do you adjust to daylight savings? These five tips are recommended by a sleep expert

The clocks falling back in autumn is the toughest transition of the daylight savings time changes, meaning there has never been a better time to adopt good sleep habits. Photo / Getty Images

Did you enjoy a Sunday morning sleep-in? You may have relished the extra hour of shut-eye that the daylight savings time zone shift enabled, but it turns out that not getting up at your usual time could very well impact your ability to get to sleep tonight. The good news is it’s not too late to shift your body clock. With these expert tips, you’ll get your circadian rhythm back on track in no time.

Over the past few weeks, the darkness has been slowly creeping back into our days, making morning wake-ups extra grog-inducing and our evenings ever shorter.

Winding the clock back in autumn is harder for our bodies to adjust to than the forward shift in spring, which means maintaining good sleep habits is key to easing the transition. This shift actually corrects us back to “standard time”, as the act of moving clocks forward by an hour in spring is simply an initiative created to allow us to enjoy more daylight hours over summer.

“It may come as a surprise to many but Daylight Savings Time is something that only a few countries around the world adhere to,” registered clinical psychologist Dr Kimberly Falconer tells the New Zealand Herald.

“Even here in New Zealand, it is a relatively recent initiative and debates continue worldwide as to whether it should in fact be abolished.”

Falconer says that the reasons for shifting the clocks forward in spring include increased sun exposure, the opportunity for more leisure time and also the electricity savings that inevitably result from more sunlight hours. Many of the arguments against daylight savings cite adverse health effects and negative impacts on our sleep as reasons we should be avoiding this twice-a-year change.

The 2024 Sealy New Zealand Global Sleep Census, which explored the sleep habits of more than 20,000 people worldwide, identified that 60 per cent of New Zealanders reported waking up feeling unrested and unrefreshed at least five days a week, with women being 58 per cent more likely to have trouble getting to sleep or staying asleep compared with men.

With daylight savings thrusting the body clock out of its regular rhythm, Falconer says this effectively gives us a form of jet lag similar to what you’d get from international travel or shift work, and anyone - whether you have existing sleep issues or not - may feel the effects of the one-hour time change.

“While the extra hour of sleep in the morning may be welcomed by many, you will pay the price in the evening when it may be harder to fall asleep at your typical time, with a compromised sleep drive as a result of the time change,” Falconer says.

“When time in bed is not spent sleeping, your sleep efficiency gets reduced, and over time this can obviously put you at risk of sleep issues like insomnia if you develop chronic struggles with falling asleep in a timely manner.”

Increasingly, research has linked our circadian and biological rhythms to a number of mental and physical health outcomes.

“We are very aware that maintaining a regular body clock is essential in terms of optimal wellbeing and the prevention of health difficulties such as diabetes, obesity, mental health concerns and various sleep disorders,” Falconer adds.

So how do you maintain a regular body clock when time is literally shifting around you? First of all, Falconer says you need to quickly get in sync with the new day’s rhythm.

Stick with your regular wake time

When your body clock is experiencing a change like this, it’s important to try as hard as you can to adjust to the new time zone.

“My advice tends to focus a lot more on the reset each morning with a regular wake time,” Falconer says.

“Research suggests this is perhaps the most important aspect to be regular with and daylight savings is a good chance to prioritise this and get yourself up at the correct time for your day, irrespective of how you might feel from the previous night’s sleep.

“This gives you the best chance at building up a strong sleep drive for the next night and getting your body on track for the new rhythm as quickly as possible.”

Shift your whole daily routine

Along with aligning your sleep to the new time zone, Falconer recommends shifting your meals and exercise times in a similar way so that your body is being conditioned to the new time zone in all areas of daily life.

“Regularity around these aspects of your days can go a long way in stabilising your body clock and avoiding issues with your circadian rhythm down the track,” she says.

Be mindful of your daylight and darkness exposure

“Ensure you are jumping into the sunlight first thing in the morning and maximising your exposure to daylight early in the day,” Falconer says. “Similarly in the evening, make sure you are allowing the darkness to work its magic, so try to avoid unnecessary bright lights, screens and LEDs. Artificial light can interfere with our body’s natural melatonin, which is the hormone linked to sleep.”

If you are an avid evening phone user, you can program your iPhone to automatically shift into “night shift” mode (”night light” on Android) when the sun goes down to diminish the blue light emitting from your screen and make viewing easier on your eyes.

Consider your core body temperature at bedtime

Your core body temperature is a key part of the induction of sleepiness and while this has a daily rhythm to it, you may find it helpful to boost this even further as you transition to the new time zone.

“Exercise is a brilliant activity in that it raises your temperature and then has a corresponding drop for two to four hours afterwards. We often recommend people try exercising at the end of the day to make the most of this soporific effect - within three to six hours of bedtime,” Falconer says.

If you can’t do an evening workout, a hot bath for about 25 minutes less than two hours before bed can also help in a similar way as your core temperature will drop a lot quicker after a bath compared with exercise.

Employ the half-hour, half-hour rule

This is a fantastic tip for anyone having trouble falling asleep at any point, not just during daylight savings. If you have been awake for more than half an hour at any point in the night, Falconer recommends getting out of bed and going to another dimly-lit room to do something non-stimulating for at least half an hour, then head back to bed and try again.

“While this is a pretty hideous rule that no one obviously likes, it’s a very important one as it prevents you spending too much time in bed awake teaching your body to link bed with wakefulness and putting yourself at risk of insomnia and other sleep issues,” she says.