Prepare your body for daylight saving time starting now

Daylight saving time begins early Sunday morning March 10th. That means you’ll effectively lose an hour of sleep this coming weekend.

“Springing ahead” can play havoc on your body’s internal rhythm — and those effects may last for weeks. So what can you do to make the transition a little easier?

Dr. Shelby Harris is a sleep expert at New York’s Montefiore Medical Center. She says when many are already not getting enough shut-eye, losing another hour could potentially increase your heart attack risk.

“There was a study in I believe 2008 that was out of Sweden that showed that there was a five percent increase in heart attacks at that time in the morning because you’re waking up an hour earlier and peoples cardiovascular systems are a little more unstable earlier in the morning. And if you’re already possibly at risk for having a heart attack you might be at a greater risk if you’re having to wake up earlier than usual. There’s more car accidents because of one less hour of sleep. People’s attention, concentration, motor function are actually impaired just for one hour less of sleep,” said Dr. Harris.

Dr. Harris suggests trying to get your body to adjust before the clock change may make the transition easier.

“Starting on Wednesday the week before is go to bed and wake up fifteen minutes earlier every day so Wednesday night you’ll go to bed at 10:45 instead of 11.  Instead of waking up at 7 wake up at 6:45. And then do 10:30 with a 6:30 wake up and just go to bed 15 minutes earlier each day and wake up then when the clock changes you’re actually on the new schedule,” said Dr. Harris.

Dr. Harris says then on Sunday, get out of bed and don’t be lazy around the house. She says getting as much sunlight as possible will help make the change a little easier.