How to Help Your Mood and Health During Daylight Savings Changes

As daylight savings time approaches, you might be anxious over the changes that come along with the daylight savings. Daylight savings can have a massive affect, in a negative way, on your mood and overall health, but there are some things you can do to prevent the daylight savings from changing your mood and health. Daylight savings makes us lose an hour in the fall and gain an hour in the spring, but the fall transition will really hit you hard and you need to be prepared on how to cope with that.

If you have negative effects that come from daylight savings time changes, you might try to turn your clocks back on Saturday before the change takes effect. Changing your clocks in your home before the time change actually occurs can help you get your body used to the change and can also help improve your mental state during the transition. Changing the clocks back an hour or forward an hour a day or two before the change occurs can help mentally prepare you for the change and it can also help your body get used to the transition during daylight savings, which will help you transition better during the week.

Another thing you really want to do if the daylight savings change has a negative effect on you is to remember not to drink too much alcohol or caffeine during the transition period. If you are trying to get used to the daylight savings time change by drinking a lot of coffee in the mornings, this is not a good idea. Using products that will either put you to sleep or help wake you up will actually harm your transition to the earlier time schedule. You might think that taking a sleeping pill right before the switch occurs will help you, but using medications like this will only hurt your physical abilities to get used to the daylight savings change.

If you are a person who enjoys an afternoon nap, especially on the weekend, you should avoid your afternoon naps on both Saturday and Sunday before the daylight savings time change. Taking a nap during the day is nice, but if you are used to that schedule and then going to bed at a certain time, you will end up losing that hour of sleep because of the transition and it will be noticeable on Monday. The time change might affect you negatively anyways, but cutting out the nap on the day before will get your body better prepared for a different schedule the next day.

Something that should be obvious to do during the daylight savings change is to make your schedule light on the day following the change. If you have to drive you can, but you should really not drive more than you have to during the first couple of days following the transition. If you are normally a party-person or someone who likes to go here and there, you should really think about just doing what you have to and then going home. Lessening your load during the first couple days of the transition will help your mental and physical state better change to the daylight savings time. You do not always know how you will feel during the evening of the first day of the daylight savings time change, so plan to do nothing just in case you start feeling worn down from the change. The daylight savings change can hit you fast, so it is important to know how your mind and body is feeling. By just having a lighter load during these couple days after the daylight savings change, you will have a more positive body and mind experience.

If the daylight savings time change has a negative effect on your physical and mental state, you also might want to leave about an hour before you go to bed to wind down. This might include stopping your before-bed Internet searches and limit your food and drink consumption right before bed. By giving your mind and body time to wind down before you go to bed, you will be more likely to fall asleep faster. Limit the amount of eye strain during the last hour before you go to bed, this will help clear your mind and better prepare you for sleep. Also, turning off the television and computer once you get into bed will also help you transition better into daylight savings because you will not be tempted to turn on those electronics when you should be resting or sleeping.

Another great thing you can do to lessen the negative effects of daylight savings time is to go to bed on a regular schedule during the week and weekend before the time switch begins. You might have a set bedtime during the week but on the weekend a lot of people enjoy staying up later, which is fine but not during the daylight savings time change weekend. You need to set yourself on a schedule where you know you will go to bed at a certain time on the weekend and during the weekdays leading up to the daylight savings time change. Be sure to not stay up until 3 in the morning on the day before the time change because this will throw off your whole mental and physical state. It is similar to getting your child ready to go to school again at the beginning of the school year, you need to build-up to the change. Building up to the change will allow your mind and body the time it needs to adjust properly without just pulling the switch, because when you just pull the switch that is when you get negative effects from a time change.

It is also a great idea in order to improve your mental and physical state during the daylight savings time change, to get plenty of food and water and keep hydrated. If you eat properly, ensuring you get all your fruits and vegetables during the daylight savings time change it will help your mind and body adjust naturally to the change. Making sure you drink plenty of fluids so that you keep hydrated are important to keep your physical state well in order and healthy. You should be doing this everyday anyways to stay healthy and keep your immune system strong, but if you normally do not do this then you might want to implement the healthy eating and hydration techniques to improve your transition during daylight savings time. During daylight savings time, your body might feel out of whack and you might not be hungry when you normally would be, but it is important to keep yourself healthy and eat right to ensure your body does not get dehydrated or worn down during this period.