Essay On Daylight Saving Time

When it’s time to change your clocks, the saying goes, “Spring forward, fall back!” It sounds simple enough. In the fall, when Daylight Savings Time ends, we set our clocks back one hour. In the spring, when Daylight Savings time begins, we move our clocks forward one hour. Though, what does all this switching up of the times do to our sleep? Oh, the fall sounds nice since we actually gain an extra hour of sleep. But, what happens in the spring when Daylight Savings Time begins, and we jump ahead one hour losing that precious 60 minutes, that’s 3,600 seconds of precious sleep time? Add a new baby, a child or two, or even a pet into this drowsiness, and suddenly those hands on the clock are starting a pillow fight with your bedtime rituals.

The good news is that the same sleep-aid steps that work for you will probably work for them as well. It will just require some effort and attention on your part to make sure their trouble with adjusting to the time change doesn’t keep you up at night as well.

Take it slow – Start about a week or so ahead of Daylight Savings time, and begin to slowly adjusting your child’s napping and sleeping times by 10 or 15 minute increments each day leading up to the time change.

Routine – Establish bedtime rituals that are the same every night. Start to wind down after dinner leading up to a relaxing time for bed. Your night-time ritual may mean an evening bath, snuggle time, or even a bedtime story. Whatever it is, keep it consistent as possible every night.

Darken the room – Depending on what time your child goes to bed, a time change can throw off how much light comes into the room, since the sun may still be up. Install black-out, room-darkening shades if streetlights or such become a problem.

Stay cool – Cooler temps at night help the body want to sleep or to snuggle up in a blanket. For safety, use sleep sacks for