Clocks go back
I dread this weekend all year: the weekend the clocks go back to Greenwich Mean Time. In case you’ve forgotten, time will move back by one hour at 2am on Sunday 27th October. In this way, we “rob” an hour of daylight from the morning and add it to the end of the day. The concept has been around since the late 1700s, but it was only introduced in the First World War as a way of saving the nation’s energy.
It’s been with us ever since and yes – it’s nice to get an extra hour on Sunday, but that’s little consolation for the now rapid descent into winter.
If, like me, you already struggle with the long hours and weeks of darkness, it’s worth noting the wealth of research that suggests that changing the clocks can have a serious effect on our health. It can knock out the alignment of your body’s natural rhythms and leave you more accident-prone, more vulnerable to lower cognitive performance, mood disruption and other debilitating effects.
Perhaps the biggest problem is a potential disruption to your sleep pattern. Well-managed sleep hygiene is crucial to general good health and well-being, and The Sleep Charity has published a guide to minimising the disruption:
How To Minimise Sleep Disruption When Clocks Go Forward – The Sleep Charity
Along with your physical health, it’s important that you take special care of your mental wellbeing in winter. Look out for signs of SAD – seasonal affective disorder.
Overview – Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) – NHS (www.nhs.uk)
And don’t forget that we have a well-resourced Wellbeing Collection which we hope will help you transition to the shorter days and the darker nights.
Sleep well!
By Lesley McRobb
Photo source Alex Krivec
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