Hi, I'm Dr. Anand Gerasappe. I'm the Medical Director at the Swedish Redmond Sleep Center and this is Swedish News You Can Use. Today, we'll be talking about the effects of daylight savings time on sleep. Daylight savings is the practice of advancing the clock an hour forward in the spring time, and it was originally developed so that you have more sunlight in the evening hours, and less sunlight during the early morning waking hours. Daylight savings can definitely have a negative impact on sleep. In fact, there are many studies which show the clock shifts that occur during daylight savings when you actually lose an hour of sleep can disrupt your internal biologic rhythms. There are several things that you can do to prepare ahead for daylight savings time. For example, you could start about a week earlier going to bed fifteen minutes earlier, and then staggering it so that over a course of a week you’re up to an hour earlier to bed. You could also reduce your caffeine consumption after noon and definitely reduce alcohol intake at least four to five hours before you go to bed. Bright light in the evenings can actually have the effect of delaying the onset of sleep, so you want to avoid a lot of bright light exposure like watching television or sitting on your iPad close to bedtime. And increasing light exposure in the morning by going for a morning walk is going to be very helpful. Also increasing your level of exercise during the day is very helpful. Thank you for watching Swedish News You Can Use. This is Dr. Anand Gerasappe, thanks for watching and see you next time.