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Losing Sleep, Saving Time: Set Your Clock Forward This Weekend

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Daylight saving time goes into effect at 2 a.m. tomorrow. Remember the adage, "Spring forward, fall back," and set your clock ahead by one hour before you go to bed tonight.

The clock change slices an hour of shut-eye from your routine, so there are a lot of strategies available to help you manage the switch. Several sleep experts suggest easing into the routine, such as going to bed a few minutes earlier each night until you've accounted for the hour you'll lose on Sunday, says the CBC.

But if you haven't prepared ahead of time, the Chicago Tribune cites a sleep researcher who suggests adopting your normal schedule immediately after the time change and not letting yourself nap until you've adjusted.

The National Sleep Foundation suggests people use the change to daylight saving time to "reset sleep habits," such as going to bed and rising at the same time each day, keeping quiet bedrooms free of televisions and computers, and creating bedtime rituals, such as listening to quiet music.

Of course, if you live in Arizona or Hawaii, disregard this advice: Those states don't advance the clock. Phoenix station KNXV-TV reports Arizona officials decided against time changes years ago, because it meant more sunlight and hotter temperatures later in the evening.

One quick plug from the Consumer Product Safety Commission: While you're changing your clock, change the batteries on your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, too.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Korva Coleman is a newscaster for NPR.