Daylight Saving Guide

This guide is in collaboration with Mabelle Moukarzel

The topic of today is Daylight Saving!

The week after daylight savings, The American Academy of Sleep Medicine highlights an acute effect which ranges from increased risk of strokes & heart attacks, also increased production of inflammatory markers & increased traffic fatalities… This is because daylight saving time is a light related stress event on the body, specially on the brain & the heart (these organs are the richest in mitochondria).

Mitochondrias being the generators of our cells, they recharge themselves through adequate light environment & a well working circadian cycle (wake/sleep cycle).
However, daylight saving time results in more darkness in the morning & more light in the evening. Therefore, it disrupts the body’s natural rhythm & internal clock ending up causing disruption in mitochondrial charge.

Now Baby Sleep, what to do?

Kids are mitochondrially healthier than adults, but also their metabolism works much faster, therefore they adapt to daylight savings much better than us adults. Yet, this does not mean that kids’ sleep should be disrupted or delayed. Keeping the routine and implementing a smooth transition is very important for a healthier organism.

This time change can actually be supported in different ways depending on your baby/toddler’s temperament and your current sleep routine.

• Option 1 – Don’t do anything. For families who have early rising babies this time change is a real blessing. Instead of your baby waking at 5am they will likely wake at 6am. Please note this can be short-lived and babies with really strong internal clocks may revert back to that early rise within a few days to a week. Make sure that you adjust everything, their entire routine, all naptimes, meal times and activities. You need to shift the whole routine, not just the bedtimes and wake times.

• Option 2 – Wake your baby/toddler at the new time. This is especially important for families who are needing the earlier wake to squeeze in two naps and not end up with a really late bedtime. You can do this the morning of the time change and adjust your whole routine. For example, if your baby was waking at 7 am before the time change, simply wake them at 7 am on the new time.

• Option 3 – For really sensitive babies who struggle with change, you may want to adjust to the time change gradually. You could consider adjusting them 15 minutes at a time either before the time change or after. You will need to make the adjustment with the wake time first. For example, if your baby usually wakes at 7 am and you want to keep a 7 am wake up time, you could wake her at 6:45 am, then the following day you would wake her at 6:30 am, then 6:15 am, then 6:00 am on the day of the time change which would be 7 am. Again, it is important to adjust ALL parts of their routine, not just sleep times.

Additional Tips:

• Start your morning routine exposed to natural light – open window – try to avoid turning on any artificial lights or screens
• Expose yourself and your baby to the sunset if possible.
• Dim your lights and avoid bright light after sunset.

Attention Everyone!

By the end of October, the clock will turn 1hour backwards. Days will get shorter & darker. This time shift may bring about some negative repercussions on our health & our sleep/wake cycle, if we aren’t careful.
When the light signal changes or is purposefully shifted, our body has to put every cell to work harder in order to keep the balance. It’s true, we are adaptive beings, however, adaptation is always smoother when prepared.

Something important to keep in mind in the Autumn time change is that, since days will be shorter & darker, we tend to get higher exposure to indoor artificial light (junk light)

Junk light leads to fatigue & low energy.

Therefore, to counteract this negative effect, it is advised to increase our natural light exposure whenever possible & to reduce, block or dim lights after 6-7pm. Junk light interferes with Melatonin (a hormone that induces sleepiness) & in Winter we need a longer Melatonin Cycle (we get that through darkness) to manage adaptation to cold, lower inflammation & boost our immune system.

Now Baby Sleep, what to do?

Kids are mitochondrially healthier than adults, but also their metabolism works much faster, therefore they adapt to daylight savings much better than us adults. Yet, this does not mean that kids’ sleep should be disrupted or delayed. Keeping the routine and implementing a smooth transition is very important for a healthier organism.

This time change can actually be supported in different ways depending on your baby/toddler’s temperament and your current sleep routine.

• Option 1 – For some really flexible and easy-going babies you may not need to do anything.

• Option 2 – For sensitive babies who struggle with change, you can prepare for the time change and start moving your bedtime forward by 10-15 minutes each night (or if baby is really sensitive, every three nights). You can then move the whole daytime schedule by that same interval the next day. You will want to move EVERY part of their day – feeding, sleep and any daily routines and activities

Additional Tips:

• Remember to use light and darkness to your advantage and support this change. Keep the lights dark those extra 15 minutes each morning and lights on for those extra 15 minutes at bedtime.
• Try to remain as consistent as possible with your routines as you can and use them to help cue your baby.