This weekend, on the night of Saturday March 25 to Sunday March 26, we will switch to summer time, at two o’clock, it will be three o’clock… But losing an hour of sleep can have real effects on our body.
- Daylight saving time has a real impact on our health.
- It affects our internal biological clock and robs our body of an hour of sleep.
- Some recommendations can be followed in order to shorten the adaptation period.
The transition to summer time goes hand in hand with longer evenings and lower electricity consumption, a significant element at this time, but this change is not only positive. Indeed, scientists believe that time changes, especially the transition to summer time, can have negative implications on our health.
The transition to summer time is more difficult for our body to assimilate
This change affects our circadian system, our internal biological clock, which is influenced by sunlight, and which causes our body to set specific times for certain functions, such as digestion, hormone production, sleep, appetite . Breaking this rhythm can lead to ailments: sleep disorders, alertness, depression, myocardial infarction and stroke.
Our body will have all the more difficulty in assimilating summer time if it is one hour short of sleep and its biological clock will have to be advanced by one hour, thus increasing its efforts to catch up. .
Time change: an adaptation that can take a long time
Body adaptations vary from person to person and can last from days (for early risers) to months (for people who are more productive at night).
It is recommended to make adjustments before and after the time change to avoid fatigue: go to bed early to avoid lag, avoid screens two hours before going to bed, expose yourself to the sun as soon as you get up in order to recalibrate its biological clock and walk for an hour in the morning to activate cortisol production, allowing the body to wake up properly.
The elderly and young children are more sensitive to this change. It is therefore advisable to advance bedtime and meal times by 15 minutes the week before the time change. As for adults, it is important to rest, not to overload your days too much to allow the body to adapt.
