As we “spring forward” this weekend, Iowans will lose more than just an hour of sleep. The extra daylight at the end of the day could make it hard for some people to nod off. Sleep specialist Dr. William Baumann says to keep your body clock in check, plan ahead.
Baumann says “This is on a weekend and it’s going to be lighter in the evening and darker in the morning and people may have the tendency to stay up later and make this transition worse, where you should probably be trying to advance your bedtime for several days before this occurs.” Baumann says many people have problems adjusting to the time change.
Baumann says “It did raise some concerns because of the light situation where it is going to be darker when people get up and lighter in the evening where people could potentially get into a sleep problem temporarily.” Baumann is co-director of the Sleep Lab at the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, and sees patients from Iowa and Nebraska.
The doctor says the adjustment to daylight-saving time is especially hard for those people with sleep disorders. He says “There are problems in our society where we’re tending to sacrifice our sleep time for our productivity and that maybe the wrong thing to do ’cause it will actually decrease our productivity.” Baumann says people should try turning in about 15 minutes earlier each night for the next few weeks to help them adjust to the time change.