Daylight saving time ends Sunday. Sleep expert says you should start doing this tonight

ATLANTA — It’s almost time to end daylight saving time for the year. You can get a little extra sleep when the clocks turn back an hour at 2 a.m. Sunday.

Even though it seems like an extra hour of sleep is a luxury, the impacts aren’t all positive. Channel 2 Action News spoke with Dr. Hitendra Patel, Medical Director of the sleep program at Wellstar.

“It basically disrupts our biological sleep rhythm, which is aligned with natural sunlight. When the sun rises and when the sun sets, that’s how we should be waking up and going to bed. But we’ve artificially played without twice a year, and it causes havoc internally to personal health and also in our society.”

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Patel says it may sound like one hour doesn’t make much difference, but it can when it comes to health problems.

“And it’s not easy to catch up that hour. Oh, it takes many days, two weeks at least, to reset that,” he said.

Patel told Channel 2 Action News that the key to adjusting is in the days leading up to the time change.

“Try to go to bed about 20 to 30 minutes earlier than your usual bedtime,” he said. “And then correspondingly, wake up that little bit earlier as well and try to practice good sleep habits and patterns leading up to that, too.”

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• Daylight saving time 2023: When do we set our clocks back?
• Spring forward and never fall back? Here’s what permanent daylight saving time could look like in Georgia
• Kemp signs permanent daylight saving time bill into law in Georgia

Why does Georgia end daylight saving time in November? Gov. Brian Kemp did sign a bill in 2021 that would allow Georgia to make daylight saving time permanent.

But that can’t go into effect without an act of Congress. The Senate unanimously passed the “Sunshine Protection Act” in 2022, but the House did not take up the bill. This year, versions of that bill are stuck in committee for both chambers.

Set a reminder now to turn back your clocks at 2 a.m. Sunday or before you go to bed.

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Daylight saving time: What you need to know Benjamin Franklin was the first to propose the concept of daylight saving time in 1784. (NCD)

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