The clocks fell back an hour on Nov. 1 for Daylight Saving Time, and while some of us relished the extra time to watch holiday movies/doomscroll/get up at 5 a.m. with the kids, we can’t avoid the fact we’re going to get less and less sunlight as the weeks go by. And that can be particularly hard for many.
“Our threshold for anxiety and depression is much lower right now,” Dr. Tax Bhatia says in the video above from Yahoo! Life. “Even the strongest amongst us mentally are in a weird place. So when we have additional disruptions, like disruptions to our sleep cycle, disruptions to the amount of light we’re getting in when we’re awake, it’s just one more factor in an already really tough year for so many people.”
Turning back the clock can mess with our sleep for up to a week, according to Harvard experts, including waking up earlier, having trouble falling asleep, or waking up during the night.
“People are actually waking up when it’s dark rather than when it’s light and so they’re not getting the stimulation that it’s time to reset your circadian rhythm,” says Bhatia. “Our circadian rhythm, or the flow of when we sleep and when we’re awake, dictates so many different processes in the body.”
These sleep disturbances, along with less sunlight, can cause people to experience more depression and sadness, notes Dr. Judo Ho in the video.
To learn more about how to cope with the effects Daylight Saving Time has on your body, and how to get your sleep back, watch the video above and then maybe petition to get rid of it once and for all.
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