Tips for a Good Night's Rest: Time Change and Year-Round

Are you ready to "fall back?" When daylight saving time ends, our sleep patterns get interrupted. Get tips for a good night's rest from Carmen Dohmeier, MD, neurology and sleep medicine specialist with Guilford Neurologic Associates, a member of Cone Health Medical Group.

How does "falling back" when daylight saving time ends impact your health?

"For most people, it's a positive impact. We are a chronically sleep-deprived or sleep-restricted society, so an extra hour is really in general welcome."

How can we best prepare for the time change?

"The time transition is really much harsher in spring, when we are waking up an hour earlier and are dealing with not an hour extra, but with an hour less of sleep. So there, we would usually tell you the week before to go half an hour earlier to bed so you're not having this abrupt change by a whole hour within one day. For the autumn time change, it's really not as necessary. Most people have no trouble going to sleep at the same time and actually welcoming that extra hour in the morning - it shouldn't have any negative impact."

Learn more about sleep health from Dr. Dohmeier in the full interview above.