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Daylight Saving Time: How to conquer the time change
Daylight Savings begins 2:00 a.m. Sunday. Turn your clocks forward by one hour. Cell phones and other smart technology will automatically adjust.
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Despite repeated attempts to kill Daylight Saving Time, this weekend we will, once again, "spring forward." It all sounds so fun and perky — until you realize you're going to lose an hour of sleep.
The official changeover occurs at 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 11, 2018. Cell phones and other smart technology will automatically update their time stamps but you'll need to manually change alarm clocks and other devices.
The bigger issue, for most of us, is how the time change affects our sleep cycles.
"During the first week you’ll feel sleepier," Dr. Alon Avidan of UCLA's Sleep Disorder Center tells KPCC. "It's hard to make the adjustment." We could've told you that.
Dr. Avidan has a few tips for making the shift a bit easier:
- Don’t drink caffeine and alcohol before going to bed.
- Avoid looking at a screen for the two hours before you go to sleep.
- Get 15 minutes of sunlight each day this week.
- Next year, you can get a head start by waking up 15 minutes earlier each day in the week leading up to the time-change. (Side Note: Does anyone actually do this?)
Sadly, we can't recommend using Daylight Saving Time as an excuse to show up late or sleep through events — but we wouldn't give you the side-eye if you did.
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