Great Outdoors Ward Off ‘Spring Forward’ Sleepiness

Australians are being urged to get outdoors and soak up natural light to help shake off the sleepiness sparked by daylight saving.

Specialists at the Sleep Health Foundation are using Sunday’s ‘Spring forward’ clock changes to highlight the benefits of simple outdoor light in helping your body clock cope with losing an hour’s sleep.

On Sunday, October 6, at 2am, people living in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, and the Australian Capital Territory will put their clocks forward one hour to 3am. Professor David Hillman, Chair, Sleep Health Foundation, said while it’s welcomed as an exciting sign of long summer days ahead, it is the harder of the two daylight savings changes to adjust to.

“We effectively lose an hour’s sleep at night, which throws circadian rhythms out of sync because we are suddenly required to wake at a time when the body clock is still programmed for slumber,” Dr Hillman said. “If you haven’t planned for it in advance by slowly adjusting your bedtime forward, it’s very likely you’ll be hit with daytime fatigue and sleepiness.”

He warned people who need to drive, operate heavy machinery or do anything else risky to be extra vigilant in their freshly fatigued state. “Fatigue is thought to be responsible for $550 million in annual costs relating to motor vehicle and workplace accidents. This, coupled with all the suffering involved, is a heavy price to pay for tiredness,” Dr Hillman said.

A growing body of research suggests getting a big dose of outdoor light will help protect against poor sleep and tiredness during the day. A recent French study of more than 13,000 workers at one Parisian transport company found that the third who had no exposure to light during their shift had almost double the risk of suffering insomnia and daytime sleepiness.
Other work by Marie Dumont of Sacré-Cœur Hospital of Montréal, Canada, showed how natural light was a powerful synchroniser that had the ability to effectively realign an individual’s confused body clock.

“Sleep issues are extremely common in our society, and cost the country dearly in accident risk and lost productivity,” Dr Hillman said.

“So to have such a potent natural remedy as light at our disposal is a gift that we should try to take advantage of, especially at challenging times like daylight saving.”

The clock change kicks off Sleep Awareness Week on October 7, with the Sleep Health Foundation taking the opportunity to offer some helpful tips to Australians hoping to make the transition smoothly:

• Go to bed 15-20 minutes earlier for a few days before putting clocks forward
• Set your alarm 30 minutes earlier on Saturday and Sunday in preparation for the early start on Monday
• Make the bedroom as bright as possible when you first wake up in the morning
• Eat a good breakfast
• Go outside in the sunlight in the early mornings
• Exercise outside in the mornings
• Try to get between seven to nine hours sleep each night
• Don’t exercise just before going to bed
• Don’t drink coffee, tea or other caffeine drinks in the evening, avoid smoking just before bed or during the night
• Don’t go to bed hungry or too soon after eating a large meal

Dr Hillman warned that children can take longer than adults to adjust to daylight saving as they find it harder to understand the concept of time change.
“Pulling the curtains to darken the bedroom when younger ones go to sleep will help them adjust to the change much more easily,” he said. “And throwing curtains open in the morning to let light stream in will help reinforce the new sleep-wake cycle.”

(Source: Sleep Health Foundation Australia)