Daylight saving time ends this weekend: Six doctor-backed ways to protect your sleep and mood

The advice starts on Friday, a full day before the clocks change. With the clocks set to turn back overnight Saturday, Dr. John La Puma, a California physician who focuses on nature-based medicine, says people can begin easing into the new hour by pushing bedtime, meals and wake-up time later in small steps. Someone who normally turns in at 10 p.m. would go to bed at 10:15 on Friday and 10:30 on Saturday, then let the clock change handle the rest. Wake-up times and meals can move by the same increments, as schedules allow.

The reasoning is that the body keeps its own time. According to La Puma, when the clocks change, the body clock is still running on the old hour. He described what follows: for about a week, people wake an hour early, get hungry early and feel sleepy early. Darkness arrives by five, afternoon light disappears, and months of short days begin. He said you need coffee just to feel human, and that it's not great. Turning the clocks back has been linked to trouble falling and staying asleep, and ongoing sleep loss can take a toll on health. Some research has suggested the fall change may carry cardiovascular benefits, but La Puma pointed to the abrupt loss of evening sunlight, which can suppress serotonin and melatonin production and contribute to a depressed mood.

This year the change lands on Halloween, which prompted a warning from Dr. Saema Tahir, a sleep medicine doctor in New York City. She cautioned against treating the extra hour as cover for a late night of drinking. Her advice was to keep alcohol moderate, finish drinking a few hours before bed and avoid caffeine after early afternoon. Alcohol makes people drowsy at first but breaks up sleep in the second half of the night, she said, and caffeine stays in the system for hours. Combined, they can leave a person more tired on Sunday than if the time change had never happened.

Light is the other lever. La Puma recommends getting outside each afternoon, later in the day, at the right minutes and in the right place if possible. Late-day daylight, he said, tells the body the day is running long, and the body clock shifts later in response. Tahir described light as the strongest signal the body clock receives. Evening light pushes the clock later, which is the direction needed for falling back. Once people have adjusted, she recommends outdoor light within an hour of waking every day through the winter, since morning light keeps the clock stable over the darker months and supports mood and daytime alertness.

The evening routine matters too. La Puma suggests a wind-down ritual that tells the brain and body it is time to sleep, such as working in a paper workbook, sipping chamomile tea, taking a bath or using aromatherapy. He outlines these options in his book, "Indoor Epidemic." He also advises limiting caffeine after noon and stopping screens at least an hour before bed. Light from a screen can suppress melatonin, the hormone that signals sleep, and even night mode may not fully prevent that.

Once the change has happened, La Puma's last piece of advice is consistency: pick one wake-up time and keep it every day, weekdays and weekends. He cited an eight-year study of about 60,000 people that linked consistent sleep and wake times to a 19% lower risk of death, and said sleep and wake timing have important effects on heart attack, stroke and cardiovascular mortality.

For people whose trouble doesn't pass, the National Institutes of Health says persistent difficulty falling or staying asleep, frequent daytime fatigue, or sleep loss that interferes with daily activities is a reason to contact a healthcare provider.