Your sleep-wake cycles are controlled by a circadian clock found in your brain. This clock follows daylight, specifically in people it follows dawn, particularly when the days are short. 2/10
In March when we set our clocks ahead, we adjust when we as a society wake up relative to sunrise. We often talk about losing an hour of sleep, but it is actually more insidious than that. 3/10
Think of the last time you had a bad night sleep. You feel bad the next day, but the next night, if you sleep well, you’ll feel fully recovered from that bad night. But when we spring forward, we often feel bad for weeks. Why does losing that hour have such a profound effect? 4/10
Your circadian clock is still following the sun, but now the sun is delayed relative to your work and school schedule. In the spring, our dawn gets earlier day by day. It is April 4th before dawn again occurs at 7:04am. At this point your circadian and social clocks are realigned. 6/10
This is what the spring forward time change affects you so much more than just losing an hour of sleep. It is actually a state of circadian misalignment that isn’t correct for ~2-3 weeks. 7/10
We feel better with the Fall-back change in November, not because of the extra hour of sleep, but because our circadian and social clock are getting misaligned in October as the days get shorter. The fall-back realigns them. 8/10
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