How the clocks going forward affects your body and how to prepare

The clocks will be moving forward an hour on Sunday morning, meaning summer’s around the corner – and some disrupted sleep might also be on the horizon.

Sleep expert and chartered physiotherapist Sammy Margo explains that moving our body clocks in either direction changes the principal time cue necessary for “setting and resetting our 24-hour natural cycle, or circadian rhythm – light.”

In doing so, our internal clock becomes out of synch or mismatched with our current day/night cycle.

We may feel tired or “mildly jet-lagged” as a result, with night owls tending to suffer more than early risers.

Parents of young children may also have to face up to an even longer day, and Sammy advises little ones be put to bed slightly later.

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Sammy, author of The Good Sleep Guide, says that some people are naturally pre-disposed to take longer to adapt to the clock change.

She says: “Some people have greater difficulty in adjusting than others and that tends to be more of a pre-disposition. Some people can get over jetlag easily, others are more sensitive to subtle changes.”

There are ways of managing the changes the shift may have on our minds and bodies, however.

She recommends re-jigging your sleep routine a few days before by starting to go to bed gradually later.

Other tips include bringing meal times forward, stopping drinking caffeine an hour earlier and avoiding naps after 3pm.

Sammy says: “The key is to be mindful that you’re going to have to rewind yourself a little bit.”

She adds that there are certain foods, such as oats, bananas and almonds, that can help optimise the release of your sleep hormone, as they contain a substance called Tryptophan.

“Tryptophan is the precursor to your sleepy hormone melatonin. These foods optimise the release of your sleepy hormone. They’re the sort of foods you should be including in your evening meal – that’s happening an hour earlier than it should be happening.”

Overall, because we’re getting the sun and the daylight the clock change doesn’t impact as heavily at this time of year as it does in October.