Don't Forget -- Time to spring forward for Daylight Saving Time Sunday morning at 2AM in most of US.

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Digital News Report – Daylight savings time is going to happen this Sunday, March 13, 2011. At 2 a.m., this is when most the United States will change their clocks to one hour ahead in order to adjust to the new current time. As you grumble about losing an hour of sleep this Saturday, here is some history and information about why we change our clocks each year.

Daylight Savings begins in the Spring and ends in the Fall. If you can remember that it is like a race for the year that you want to get ahead in the beginning of the year to hurry up to summer and in the Fall you want to fall back an hour to put off winter. There is another saying that is easy to remember. Spring ahead and Fall Back. Which is move one hour in advance in the Spring and in the Fall you go back on hour for the new current time.

There are exceptions to which areas observe the Daylight Savings Time. Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the majority of Arizona don’t change their clocks and remain in standard time. The only place in Arizona that does participate in Daylight Savings is on the Navajo Indian Reservation. Indiana used to not participate in parts, but the state passed laws to make Daylight Savings Time observed statewide beginning in 2006.

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 have extended the Daylight Savings Time period. Initially, the new law wanted to extend the time a whole two months, but was extended only three weeks earlier in the Spring, and one week more in the Fall. The reason for this was farmers and airlines said it would cause too many problems in their industries. Other countries might not observe, or have a different Daylight Savings Time schedule which can make it difficult to schedule flights. The farmers say that the livestock is affected by the shifting times.

Who originally thought up this idea of Daylight Savings? It turns out that it goes way back to Benjamin Franklin. He thought that setting the clocks for a person’s work day would help to extend daylight hours. This makes sense because there wasn’t any electricity back then. However, it wasn’t until London builder, William Willett promoted a pamphlet in 1907 suggesting adjusting the clocks in the spring and in the fall and its benefits. There is an online history lesson about Daylight Savings at http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/index.html.

If you are not sure what you current time is after Daylight Savings Time change begins, you can always visit http://www.time.gov which will let you know what time it is to set your clocks.

If you really despise going around setting your clocks twice a year, you can buy an atomic clock that will automatically sync up to the correct time. The clock receives a radio signal telling it what time it is and it will correct for daylight savings time for you.


Sleep problem solutions:

Troubled sleepers, listen up. Your problems may get worse Sunday with Daylight Saving Time, the annual rite of moving the clock forward each spring.Even losing an hour of sleep can cause decreased alertness and more accidents in spring, when Americans shift clocks forward in the twice-a-year time-change ritual.

But a U. of Michigan <nobr style="color: black;" id="itxthook0w4nobr" class="itxtrst itxtrstnobr itxthooknobr"></nobr> sleep expert says there are ways to head off problems, including going to bed a half-hour earlier tonight, waking a half-hour earlier than usual Sunday and sitting in the sun Sunday morning to allow your body's wake-sleep cycle to adjust.

"The most important thing is, when you wake up, expose your eyes to light," said Dr. Anita Valanju Shelgikar, a U-M sleep medicine specialist. "Open the blinds and turn on a light; tell your brain that this is morning."Light is such a powerful cue to our brains" and the body's internal circadian rhythms, which affect sleep, eating and even hormones, she said.

How to avoid sleep problems caused by Daylight Saving Time

Sleep<nobr style="color: black;" id="itxthook1w2nobr" class="itxtrst itxtrstnobr itxthooknobr"> problems</nobr> triggered by Daylight Saving Time, which kicks in at 2 a.m. Sunday, when clocks are moved forward an hour, can occur for a week or two and are greater for "morning larks and night owls," says Dr. Anita Valanju Shelgikar, a U-M sleep medicine specialist.


That's because people who have irregular sleep patterns already have circadian rhythms that are well off the norm, she said. The problems are like the jet <nobr style="color: black;" id="itxthook2w2nobr" class="itxtrst itxtrstnobr itxthooknobr">lag</nobr> travelers experience after they've returned from a long trip -- a fatigue that often is worse than the symptoms experienced getting there.


As many as 3 in every 10 Americans have sleep problems. Stress -- both the so-called good kind that comes from planning a celebration, for example, and the bad kind triggered by job loss -- also affects sleep loss. And sleeplessness is on the rise due to Michigan's recession, Shelgikar said.


"We're definitely seeing more people with stress who never had sleep problems before."

Here are some tips to help with the time change and sleep troubles in general:


• Go to sleep a half-hour earlier than usual tonight and wake up a half hour earlier.
• Expose yourself to outdoor or indoor light. If you have serious sleep problems, consider purchasing a blue light used to combat winter sadness. The lights can help adjust the body's internal clock that helps regulate sleep.


• Don't eat or exercise within two hours of bedtime.
• If you need a daytime nap, limit it to 30 minutes.
• Before bed, take a warm bath; listen to soothing music; do light reading, but stay away from a page-turner that could keep you up.
• Avoid alcohol. It may help you get to sleep, but it truncates it.
• Use the bedroom for sleeping and intimacy, not TV watching, video games or Internet surfing.
• Still can't get to sleep? Get out of bed and try the tips again.

Detroit Free Press.
 

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so wait, what time is it PST now..? 9:20am? I never know if my devices have updated automatically or not...
 

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we used to be the only little corner of indiana that changed our clocks...even 30 miles north didnt, but now its uniform across the state..
 

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