Daylight saving time officially begins at 2 a.m. local time on Sunday, March 10. And while many rejoice over “springing forward” into evenings with more light, messing with our body clock takes a toll. And, of course, there’s that lost hour of lost sleep we have to reckon with on Sunday morning.
Being underslept has a long list of downsides. The evidence has piled up. Without adequate sleep, we set ourselves up for increased risk of anxiety, depression, weight gain, even dementia.
So if you’re trying to adjust to the time change or are just ready to change your sleeping habits overall, what can you do?
It turns out, nighttime rituals can take you only so far. Getting good sleep is very much dependent on your daytime routines, beginning the moment you wake up.
So in addition to committing eight hours to your bed each night, here are five things you can do during the day to sleep better tonight.
1. Open the blinds, or better yet, go outside!
Welcome the sun.
Try to start your day with a bath of sunlight. Open the blinds. And if you can, go outside for at least 20 minutes in the early to mid-morning hours. Studies show that daylight exposure in the morning tends to lead to better sleep at night.
“Daylight is one of the most powerful resetters of our 24-hour clock,” says Matthew Walker, a professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California, Berkeley and founder of the Center for Human Sleep Science.
“When daylight comes through the eyes, it actually turns the faucet off on melatonin,”…
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