Can Daylight Savings Time Affect Your Kids’ Health?

Posted: 04 Nov 2017

Twice a year the majority of the US decides that we need to either fall back an hour or spring forward for an hour and this can have some bad side effects on the human body.

For example, as adults, most of us are already sleep deprived to begin with and when you take away another hour….things get even worse. So studies have even suggested that fertility rates can be affected because of our body’s circadian rhythm, that more car accidents happen within the first week of daylight saving time, and even strokes are more likely during this time. Again, it’s all linked to the lack of sleep and offsetting our natural body rhythms.

While most of us simply struggle for a few days to get back into the habit of things, what is this doing to our kids? Researchers note that severe mood swings, tiredness, and a lack of appetite tend to show up in kids during this period. So how can you adjust their schedule to make the transition as easy as possible?

The week before, slowly have them go to bed a little bit earlier every night. Maybe just in increments of 15 minutes so that when the clock changes they won’t notice the difference in the light outside.
Get enough sleep PRIOR to daylight saving time. This is helpful in that your kids won’t be messing with a body clock that is already sleep deprived.
Eat healthy. Make sure that you stack up your veggies and fruits prior and cut out the sugars before the clock changes. This can help with the sleep cycle and energy levels of your kids.
Of course, be as soothing and sympathetic as possible if those mood swings do happen to show up. Sometimes, even as adults, we have to step back and realize that the other person is going through something they can’t control. 🙂

Daylight Saving Day is the night of November 4th, 2017 here in the United States and we lose an hour.

Take advantage of it being dark longer by playing our fun glow in the dark games.