A Range of Disorders Tamed by the Beat

Fall Back To Sleep

02.11.2007 - By Lindsay Braun, Ivanhoe Health Correspondent ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- This year, for the first time ever, daylight savings time will end on the first Sunday of November instead of the last Sunday of October.

By Lindsay Braun, Ivanhoe Health Correspondent

ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- This year, for the first time ever, daylight savings time will end on the first Sunday of November instead of the last Sunday of October. While there may be many tempting ways to spend that extra hour on November 4th, experts agree the best way to fall back is into bed.

What people typically do is say, Oh I have an hour I can do more stuff, but as sleep specialists were saying, Hold on why dont you do less stuff and sleep to catch up, Ralph Downey III, Ph.D., Chief of Sleep Medicine at Loma Linda University Medical Center in Loma Linda, Calif., told Ivanhoe.

According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), many Americans experience sleep debt, and more than half of all Americans suffer from some sort of sleep disorder. Insufficient amounts of sleep can lead to negative effects on cardiac activity, heightened risk for diabetes, increased likelihood to make poor food choices and an overall decline in executive functioning.

As a society were sleep deprived. The sleep debt is about minus two hours nightly If you add that up at the end of the week, its like losing a whole nights sleep, Dr. Downey said.

The AASM recommends adults get seven to eight hours of sleep each night. Preschool children should sleep for 11 to 13 hours a night, and school-aged children should get 10 to 11 hours of sleep every night. Teenagers need nine or more hours of sleep to function at an optimal level.

When we look at diaries that were kept by people who existed before the light bulb, their average sleep time was nine and a half hours a night, now the average is more like seven and a half, Dr. Downey said. Biologically its doubtful that weve changed; what has happened is things like the Internet, the light bulb and working nights intrude.

To really take advantage of the time switch, go to bed earlier than you normally would, youll feel double the benefits. On the night of the time change, turn your clock back an hour before you go to sleep. To help yourself adjust to the time change avoid taking naps in the days following the change, and if you must nap, limit them to less than one hour and take them no later than 3 pm. To maintain a regulated sleeping pattern, try to wake up at the same time everyday, even weekends.

SOURCE: Ivanhoe interview with Ralph Downey III, Ph.D.