Morning Show

Sleep Effects Of Daylight Saving Can Last Days

(WCCO) Each morning we wake up we are inching closer to the first day of spring. This weekend we even get to spring forward with the beginning of daylight saving time, but, as you know, that also means we lose an hour of sleep.

Doctors say it's tough, especially because most of us are already sleep-deprived. I talked to one of the experts at the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis.

Dr. Michel Cramer-Bornemann told me that the best way to offset the loss of that hour of sleep this weekend is to start going to sleep about 15 minutes earlier each night beginning Wednesday or Thursday.

Typically people are drowsy and irritable for a few days after daylight saving time kicks in. And teenagers, in particular, have a hard time getting out of bed.

For some people, it takes weeks to adjust to the time change. And folks who do shift work in factories often find it hard to keep their energy up as they adjust.

Cramer-Bornemann said some people will also have a hard time driving their cars safely after that loss of sleep.

"With sleep deprivation we are going to have delayed reaction times, we want to be more aware when driving into work, we'll be a little more compromised, be more careful driving into work, be more prone to accidents while at work, particularly those who work in the industrial sector, working with machinery," he said.

Cramer-Bornemann said we really should expect a lot of inattentive driving on the highways on Monday morning. In fact a recent study shows more accidents occur on the Monday after daylight saving time starts than on other Mondays.

"Sleep deprivation has significant affects not just reaction time, i.e. auto accidents, lapses in judgment, lapses in communication, and emotional irritability," he said. When asked whether Monday would be a bad day to ask for a raise, he replied, "Not the day to get into major discussions with one's spouse, either."

His advice for heading off the trouble cause by sleep loss is to try to wake up on your own Sunday morning. Sleep in, don't set your alarm. If that's not possible, then try to take a 15 minute nap. He cautions against napping too long as it might prevent you from being able to fall asleep Sunday night.

Kids tend to have an even harder time adjusting to the time change. Some parents have started giving their kids melatonin tablets to help them get to sleep easier, in general.

Melatonin is a hormone that helps regulate the body's sleep-wake cycle. And research shows it works and it's safe in adults. The problem is that research has not yet determined that it is safe for kids to use on a long-term basis.

Cramer-Bornemann emphasized that kids are not little adults, and their brains are still developing, and a hormone like melatonin might offset the body's natural processes.

"We have to keep in mind we do not know the long term consequences of this supplement in children, for a long-standing view, in terms of brain development of the brain. We might be trading off immediate benefit for long-term consequences and harm that is yet to be determined," he said. "There has been no research that has shown the safety of these supplements, whether it is melatonin or something else, that has shown long-term safety of it. It is still possible that these supplements could have deleterious effects on the ability of these neurons to make connections in the development of the brain."

He said using melatonin occasionally for a sleeping disorder might be fine, but parents should not give it to their kids every night for a long period of time.

You should check with a pediatrician first. About 15 percent of pediatricians who were surveyed said they have recommended melatonin to help kids who have insomnia. But most advise not giving the tablets to kids under the age 10.

Meanwhile, the Nutrition Business Journal says sales of melatonin have risen quite a bit in the last three years.

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