This is how the clocks going forward can affect your kids' sleep for 2 weeks
The clocks going forward can negatively affect your sleeping patterns for a fortnight - but it's possible to reduce the potential harm with some small tweaks to your routine.
Dr Julie Smith, a clinical psychologist with over 4.7m followers on TikTok and 1.9m on Instagram, told Women's Health that a one hour clock change won't just impact your sleep that night, but could potentially affect you and your children's sleep and health for up to two weeks.
She said: 'It's not just the one night when the clocks change that you lose the hour. The next night you might find it difficult to get to sleep at the new earlier time, so you're going to sleep later, but you still have to get up that hour earlier. The sleep loss can continue throughout the following couple of weeks, depending on how much you prepare for it.'
Waking up and feeling groggy and exhausted is rough for adults, but when it comes to small children, it can lead to all sorts unwanted and challenging behaviour - which is even harder to deal with when you too are running on empty.
Dr. Julie added: 'They express tiredness and sleep deprivation through their behaviour. Often they don't necessarily have the self-awareness or the vocabulary to say, "I don't think I got enough sleep last night and I'm feeling pretty grumpy".'
How to prepare kids for losing an hour of sleep
Thankfully there are ways to avoid fourteen days of meltdowns and moodiness, if you put some of Dr. Julie's expert tips into practise now.
She said: 'Start at the beginning of the week by shifting their bedtime and wake time by 15 minutes. So by the time the clocks change, you are ahead of yourself - you've accumulated that change over the week rather than just losing an hour of sleep in one night.
'As parents, you can put that in place for the whole family. It's going to lead to a much nicer experience, especially when everyone's getting up for school an hour earlier and feeling groggy. Sleep is a core pillar of health, it's the foundation of our physical and mental health.'
She adds that setting their circadian rhythm is key to avoiding sleep disruptions. You can do this by making sure you're implementing healthy habits at the start and the end of the day. 'Getting outside as soon as you possibly can, in the morning, will help you get a dose of early morning sunlight. This is going to set your circadian rhythm, allowing you to be more sleepy at night time,' she added.
Late-night snacks, especially sugary ones, or big dinners should be avoided close to bedtime, as this will give them too much energy and make it harder for them to naturally unwind and begin to naturally feel tired.
Having 'wind down' time is also important, whether the clocks have changed or not. Dr. Julie said: 'They have all these clubs and activities, they are trying to fit everything in, and then they're expected to just switch off. Scheduling time for a "wind down", where the brain is allowed to pick up on more calming cues is important.'
She adds that calm music, and reading, will allow them to get ready for bed, mentally and physically. A hot bath or shower will allow their 'body temperature to go down - and this induces sleep.'
How to cope with sleep deprivation as a new parent
If you're a sleep-deprived new parent, and if we're being frank, the least of your problems is daylight savings time, then Dr Julie has every sympathy- she's a mum-of-three, she's been there!
She said: 'I think we have to accept that sleep can be impossible when we have a baby. It goes out the window. I remember getting obsessed with not the number of hours of sleep I had, but the number of minutes.'
So, how do you look after your mental health when you're sleep-deprived? Dr. Julie says that's where the other 'pillars of health, including nutrition, connection and exercise,' become important.
'I think the best thing we can do for women [new mums] is to connect them with other women and allow them to have adult conversations and access to the outside, to be in nature and do things at their own pace,' she said. 'A woman will thrive and get through it if they're supported in the right ways.'
She added that this is particularly important as a woman's mental health is 'never more vulnerable' than during the first year after she's had a baby. 'Your life is flipped upside down, inside out. It's going to impact your estimation of yourself, your daily thought processes, this huge uncertainty about this new job that you have no idea how to do,' she explained.
Once you've settled into parenthood she says having some accountability, such as a smartwatch which tracks your habits, will mean your sleep quality will be on point: 'I'm a working mum of three, which involves me working late into the night some evenings. Even though I know the things I should be doing, life pulls me away from doing the right things because of all the different pressures of motherhood.'
'Good habits are formed cumulatively in small changes over time, so for me, having that constant reminder that my actions were impacting my sleep, checking my sleep score each day and seeing the actual time I spent asleep - it was quite a wake-up call. '
Dr Julie Smith is an ambassador for Samsung and the Galaxy Watch6 - a device that helps understand sleep patterns, build better habits, and establish a sleep-friendly environment.
When do the clocks go forward, and at what time?
The clocks go forward at 1am on the last Sunday of March, which in 2024 is Sunday March 31st. This means that the hour between 1am and 2am effectively disappears.
The clocks go back on the last Sunday of October. In 2024, this will be October 27. The clocks move back at 2am, effectively reclaiming the hour 'lost' seven months prior.
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