Time Change Tips

In the U.S. and elsewhere, the end of October/beginning of November, depending on where you live, signals a turning back of the clocks from Daylight Savings Time to Standard Time for many areas of the world.

These artificial time changes can wreak havoc on the body, though turning the clocks back an hour isn’t as challenging as “springing ahead” an hour for Daylight Savings Time.

As an aside, I believe so many people get sick when autumn turns to winter partly because of the time change, partly because of eating too many sweets around Halloween and the holidays, partly because we’re outside less, therefore have less exposure to the sun and more exposure to viruses via closer quarters in drier air.

When the body says rest . . .

The longer evenings are meant to signal our bodies to rest more, but do we? Most of us turn on our LED lights, continue looking at screens with blue light that blocks melatonin levels, and don’t get the rest our bodies were designed to get in the darker months.

With all these factors converging to lower our immune system, it behooves us to take extra care of ourselves at this time.

If you have a more sensitive nervous system, all these things may have an even greater impact.

Here are some tips to navigate the time change:

1. The night of the time change, go to bed at your usual time (before you reset the clock), and let your body decide whether it needs that extra hour. If you awake after your usual amount of sleep, you’ll know that’s right for you. PLUS you’ll gain an extra hour and feel fresher than if you stayed up later. 
2. Cut the processed sugar!  A research study done by Loma Linda University in which participants were fed different forms of sugar found that the effectiveness of white blood cells (our immune cells which fight infection) decreased up to 50% after 1-2 hours of eating sugar, and lasted up to five hours!
3. Cut out the blue light at night. I use special glasses (and if you wear prescription glasses, you can get the kind that fit over them). There are many brands, but I like the ones with the red lenses that block out blue and green light.
4. Get more rest. Listen to your body. Be willing to make the adjustment to more sleep over the winter months. It’s part of your divine design to live within the natural rhythms of life.
5. Boost your immune system. Fruits and vegetables, broths, herbal tea, my two “healthy brews.” Warm liquids can soothe and open up nasal passages and provide healing nutrients.
6. Guard your circadian rhythms. Find out your best bedtime and stick to it. I am amazed at the difference it makes if I get to bed before 11pm, vs. after. 

A device that helps the circadian rhythms of all your organs is the HOLOS Balance. Check it out here (and get 15% off if you order). This device has helped me to sleep better, have more energy and perform better, heal quickly from my surgery, recover faster from PTSD (the Balance Plus has a PTSD setting), create calm and peace, and much more! I absolutely love this device.

Alane Freund, an international consultant on High Sensitivity, has a YouTube video on adjusting to the time change you might also want to check out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x869nFZigU

(I don’t resonate with her spirituality, but I do agree that this is a good time to lean on your spirituality, and she does have good things to say about sensitivity.)

I would add: If you are Highly Sensitive, be very aware of how much stimulation you are getting, especially at night. Because we process everything so deeply, everything we take in will need more time to process.

I’ve had to limit myself to listening to podcasts or watching videos in the evening, because I need that time to process what has already occurred that day. If I add more to process, it interferes with my rest.