Clocks fall back on Sunday — your kids might wake you up early
Nov 01, 2024
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — Sunday is the big day — we change our clocks, fall back, and enjoy that extra hour of sleep. But for kids, that change may not be as simple.
The biggest issue? Dr. Alice Hoagland, the Director of the Insomnia Clinic at the Rochester Regional Sleep Disorder Center, says the end of daylight saving time can cause younger kids to crash before bedtime and wake up earlier than usual in the morning — which probably won't be fun for parents.
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"I think the only thing to remember is that every time there's a time change it takes two to three days for your brain and your body to get back to a regular schedule," said Hoagland. "So, probably by Wednesday, most kids are going to be on track."
To lessen the effects of the time change on your child's sleep, local doctors say, you can:
Let them go to bed a little later
Make sure it’s dark and quiet when going to sleep
Ensure there’s a lot of light when you wake up
Hoagland says, getting used to the time change is very much like jet lag. "We don't generally think of people having horrible jet lag going from here to Chicago because that's only a one-hour difference," she said. "But, you go from here to California, with a several-hour difference, then it's going to take you quite some time to get back into the swing of things.
Daylight Saving Time ends on Sunday.