Iowans will again be forced to “spring ahead” this weekend by setting our clocks ahead one-hour Saturday night. One sleep expert says it won’t have a serious effect on most of us. Dr. Eric Dyken is director of the University of Iowa Sleep Disorder Center.Dr. Dyken says it takes the average adult 24 hours to adjust to a one-hour disruption in the sleep pattern. He says many other factors can come into play, however, and bring serious results. Dyken says people who are elderly, sleep-deprived new parents, shift workers and people on medication could all face a potentially fatal setback from the time change. As the person could be just sleepy enough to have an accident.Dyken says most people quickly recover from the one-hour change in the body clock, but some have trouble. He says consequences depend on the type of work a person does.
