Shifting with Compassion: Navigating the Hidden Impact of Daylight Saving Time

Circadian rhythms depend on light exposure.  We can reset our clocks, but we can’t reset the sun. That one hour shift can significantly upset our biological compass.

How many of us look forward to that weekend in November when our clocks repeat an hour and we all get an extra hour of sleep? Especially now that most of our clocks adjust themselves, the end of daylight saving time in the fall offers us relief. If you don’t pay close attention, you might not even notice it, right? 

Well… there are a few other details about daylight saving time that we often do not notice - although we have been hearing about them more and more from folks who propose we discontinue the tradition. You may be thinking, “it’s only a change of one hour twice a year, can it really have that much of an impact on us?” 

Unfortunately, the shift has a greater impact than we like to acknowledge. Public health research has shown increased risks of hospital admissions, inflammatory markers, digestive and immune-related disease flares (such as colitis), and even suicide. The effects of the shifts seem to be worse in the spring when we lose an hour, leading to a 6% increase in fatal car accidents and a 24% higher risk of heart attacks. We may seem to feel the change more in the spring, more studies are showing the impact on us for nearly the entire eight-month period that most Americans live in daylight saving time. 

The signs of the impact of the time change are usually ones that we try to ignore or reason away: change in appetite, difficulty with memory or concentration, fatigue, mood shifts, or irritability. Especially when we are talking about ADHD, AudiHD, Autistic, or other neurodivergent minds that can be more sensitive to environmental factors, it’s important that we allow ourselves to feel and listen to these signs from our bodies and minds. If you have been hard on yourself during the weeks or months after the clocks change; if you try to push through and dismiss your discomfort; if you wonder if it’s just you; it’s completely understandable why you have done that and you don’t have to continue this way. 

Rather than (or maybe in addition to) signing a petition to move to permanent daylight saving time or permanent standard time, I suggest a strategy that you can use regardless of the election cycle: As the time shifts with the sunlight, I suggest a shift towards compassion for ourselves and others. The weeks following a daylight saving transition do not feel normal because they are not normal - and your body knows it. As much as we would like to believe that we can live by our own clock and just keep waking up an hour earlier during the winter, the world around us has so much influence over how we live. This is one of those situations where we cannot stand alone; we need to move in sync with others. 

Instead of toughing it out and ignoring your body’s signals (or forcing yourself to live by your own clock while everyone else goes through the time change), I encourage you to pause and recognize how the time shift has impacted you, your mind, your body, and the people close to you. Be compassionate for yourself if you are tired, having trouble focusing, or if your appetite is off. And after you’ve held yourself in compassion, extend that to others around you: in traffic, in line at the grocery store, in your online communities. Allow this shift to be as big as it truly is, slow down, and respond with recognition of how hard this is for you. The good news is that we are all in this shift together. 

If you are interested in self compassion exercises and recorded meditations, check out Dr. Kristin Neff’s website: self-compassion.org. 

References 

5 Surprising Ways Your Body Reacts to Daylight Saving Time. Michelle Crouch. AARP. March 7th, 2023. https://www.aarp.org/health/healthy-living/info-2022/daylight-saving-time-and-your-body.html.

7 Things to Know About Daylight Saving Time. Morgan Coulson. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.March 9th, 2023. https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2023/7-things-to-know-about-daylight-saving-time#:~:text=Making%20the%20shift%20can%20increase,a%20professor%20in%20Mental%20Health.

The dark side of daylight saving time. Matthew Solan. Harvard Health Publishing. March 1, 2023. https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/the-dark-side-of-daylight-saving-time.

Daylight Saving Time and Your Health. Northwestern Medicine. February 2021. https://www.nm.org/healthbeat/healthy-tips/daylight-savings-time-your-health.

Here Comes the Sun! Tips to Adapt to Daylight Saving Time. Wong, Imelda and Hittle, Beverly. March 8th, 2022. CDC Blog. https://blogs.cdc.gov/niosh-science-blog/2022/03/08/time-change/.

How daylight saving time poses a host of health concerns, according to a neurologist. PBS. March 11th, 2023. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/how-daylight-saving-time-poses-a-host-of-health-concerns-according-to-a-neurologist

Small shifts in diurnal rhythms are associated with an increase in suicide: The effect of daylight saving. Berk M, Dodd S, Hallam K, Berk L, Gleeson J, Henry M. Sleep and Biological Rhythms. 2008;1:22-5. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1479-8425.2007.00331.x