On the night of Saturday 24 to Sunday 25 October, the clock goes back from three o'clock to two o'clock. An extra hour in bed, and it's free too.
Most people barely notice this on Sunday morning. You wake up at your normal time, look at your phone, and it's an hour earlier than you thought.
That's because there are two clocks, and only one of them gets changed.
The clock nobody can change
You have the clock on the wall, which someone turns back by an hour, and you have the little clock in your brain that keeps your sleep, hunger, body temperature, and hormones on a fixed rhythm.
That second little clock runs on light and on fixed times. It knows nothing about daylight saving time and standard time, and it doesn't change itself in one night either.
So on Sunday morning you're still on old time. If you normally wake up at seven o'clock, that morning you'll be out of bed at six while the clock says six and your body means seven.
Anyone who naturally gets up late thinks this is fine. Early birds and people with small children know exactly the opposite feeling, because they now wake up an hour before their own early time.
What else changes
The light shifts with it, and that's the part people don't count on.
The mornings stay lighter for a week or two, which is nice, because daylight in your eyes is the strongest signal that sets your clock. The evenings go downhill fast. Suddenly it's dark at five instead of six.
Your body responds with melatonin that kicks in earlier. You feel sleepy at eight, you end up lounging on the couch at nine, and by the time you really go to bed, that wave has already passed.
This change is milder than the one in March, because going back an hour is easier for your body than going forward an hour. It does take a few days, though.
What people make of it
Most people treat that hour like a bonus. Stay up later on Saturday night, because you get an extra hour anyway, and linger in bed a little longer on Sunday morning because you can.
In doing so, you can easily turn a one-hour shift into two. Your clock was already off track, and then you give it another push in the same direction.
The real work, by the way, comes in the weeks after that. One night of sleeping differently is manageable, but sitting in the dark at five o'clock for months takes some routine.
What you can do about it
In the four days before the change, move your bedtime and wake-up time by fifteen minutes later each day. Then by Sunday you'll already have absorbed the whole hour and you'll barely notice it. This is especially advice for early birds and for parents with children who naturally wake up at six o'clock.
If you naturally get up late, you don't need to do anything. Keep your normal bedtime on Saturday and get up at your usual time on Sunday, and by Sunday evening you're almost back on track.
Go outside first thing on Sunday morning. Ten minutes of daylight is the fastest way to set your clock to the new time, and that morning it's still light enough early on.
Don't fall for the early darkness. Going to bed at eight o'clock because it's already dark outside means you'll be wide awake at four in the morning. Keep your bedtime where it was and dim your lights in that last hour.
From Sunday on, switch everything to the new time and keep it there. Your rhythm is a habit, and it only sticks if you do it the same way every day.
The habit for this week
Put in your calendar now that on Wednesday 21 October you'll start shifting by fifteen minutes per day. Four days, and you'll be done by Sunday.
Add right away that you'll go outside on Sunday morning. Those ten minutes do more than the rest of your Sunday combined.
Then pay attention to your Monday morning. That's the day you'll notice whether you've absorbed the change or whether you're still ahead of it.
Every Night 1% Better.
Guy Veeke
PS: Is your rhythm fine and you still wake up tired?
Then it's about the quality of your night rather than the timing. Breathing through your mouth makes your sleep lighter without you noticing, and the combination of nasal strips and mouth tape keeps your nose open and your mouth closed.
