Tired? Sleepy? Blame it on the Time Change!

So, are you tired this morning. Feel a little "jet-lagged"? Yep, welcome to Daylight Savings Time.

We all, I hope, remembered to Spring Ahead Saturday night. In other words, move our clocks ahead 1-hour for Daylight Savings Time. The bad news for Sunday morning is that we lost an hour of sleep. Oh, am I tired!

Since we go through this every year, it's nothing new. But, it's still a pain in the you-know-what to adjust and get our internal clocks operating properly again.

It's may be dark for for your morning commute for a bit, certainly for kids going to school. And, even though we'll have more daylight at the end of the day, it doesn't seem to make up for it until our body clocks adjust.

So what are we to do? WebMD.com says that although a bit simplistic, a rule of thumb is that it takes about one day to adjust for each hour of time change.

Light is the principal environmental cue. Light suppresses the secretion of the sleep-inducing substance melatonin. So it is important to expose yourself to the light during the waking hours as much as possible, and conversely, do not expose yourself to bright light when it is dark outside.  Reduce or eliminate caffeine and alcohol, maybe exercise several hours before bedtime, create calming rituals before bed to gradually relax yourself (taking a hot bath for example), and wear ear plugs and eye masks, to name a few. It's also important to go to bed and rise at the same time every day. Though there is no evidence that certain diets will actually influence your circadian rhythm, carbohydrates tend to make it easier to fall sleep.

So, are you one of those tired and groggy people hitting the streets this morning? Take care...it too shall pass.