Doctor explains the effects Daylight Saving Time can have on your sleep, health

Majority of Americans gearing up for a time change that's going to happen this Sunday in here in Washington. It means we're also preparing for the big dark, whether losing or gaining an extra hour, which will be this weekend, by the way. There can be some real impacts to our bodies. And today we are joined by Dr. Brandon Peters-Matthews, sleep doctor from Virginia Mason. Good morning to you, doctor. Thanks for being with us. He really is an expert on sleep. He's written two books, by the way, on sleep. So you know what you're talking about. So can you quickly explain to us circadian rhythm, how it works, and why this time change is going to matter to us? So yeah, the word circadians from Latin means about a day, and it describes our sleep-awake patterns as well as hormonal patterns. We're meant to be sleeping overnight. We lock in our sleep to the overnight dark, and when we adjust our clocks, our bodies have to adjust to that shift. And so it's very important for us to get morning sunlight to synchronize our circadian rhythm to the timing of darkness. Okay, we're going to gain an hour. This weekend of sleep, but sometimes we still wake up groggier than we were before this change. Why is that? Well, you're off a little bit in your timing, and so you have to adjust. As you try to go to bed on Sunday night, you may find it's a little harder to fall asleep. Typically, it'll take about a day or two to adjust to that new timing. The other thing that can matter is if you extend your sleep, you might be getting more dreaming sleep that last hour. And if you're prone towards sleep apnea, that might be a time that that worsens your sleep quality. We mentioned that we're going to start seeing sunsets around 4 p.m. again. The big dark is going to be upon us. And how do we stay out of that winter slump during this time of year? It's a challenge. Yeah, you want to try to stay active, socially engaged, get your exercise, get out there even if it's dark. Try to be safe out on the streets. But light exposure in the morning is going to help you to synchronize your schedule. And some people benefit from using a light box this time of year. So what does the light box do for you? Yeah, so you want a light box that's at least 10,000 lux of light intensity, and that's a signal to your circadian system that will tell you it's time to wake up in the morning if you use it first thing in the morning. If you use it kind of later in the afternoon or evening, it can push the desire for sleep to be a little bit later. We were saying there's a lot of talk about changing this whole system, and you were saying what we're doing right now by turning the clock forward, turning it back, is actually the worst thing we could be doing, right? Yeah, the best option actually would be to lock into standard time. That way we could get morning You've written two books here the sleep apnea hypothesis and that's a big issue for a lot of folks sleep apnea right now and then sleeping through insomnia another big issue for folks out there. What are your tips and tricks to getting a good night's sleep? Well, I tell people lock your wake-up time in place, keep a consistent wake time even through the weekends, try to get light exposure, maybe just 15 minutes of light, either upon awakening or at sunrise. Try to get seven to eight hours of sleep for most adults, up to nine hours for some adults, and a consistent bedtime, and always go to bed feeling sleepy. If you're not feeling drowsy or sleepy, stay up a little bit later, spend that time relaxing, unwinding. And go to bed when you're feeling sleepy. I have a selfish question for everybody in the building right now because we come in here so early. A lot of us take naps. Do you recommend naps? And if you do, How long should they be for? If you're not getting enough sleep overnight, a nap can make up for some of that loss. Typically, naps should be shorter, 20, 30 minutes on the long end. If you're taking prolonged naps, 90 minutes, two hours, you may not be getting enough sleep at night and you may have another sleep disorder affecting your sleep quality. Yeah, and you may have to start studying up on all of this as well. Dr. Brandon Peters-Matthews, thanks so much for joining us today. My pleasure. And good luck as we enter the big dark.