Feel horrendous every time the clocks go back

[GCAcademic]

Literally the day that the clocks go back, I feel awful. It seems to get worse every year and lasts for weeks. Exhausted by 4pm, freezing cold (even with the heating at 20 degrees), just want to crawl into bed before it’s even dinner time.

Anyone else? And does anyone have any tips for dealing with this?

love the hour going back. can't deal with it going forward. much much prefer brighter mornings. even on Saturday before clock's went back it was dark till after 8am where I live. if we kept summer time then it would be dark till after 10am by December. it's far easier and more productive to wake up when it's bright. I really wish they would keep this time

Fun and cosy when you have no responsibilities but a different matter altogether when you’ve got to commute or pop to the shops after work. No fun. I’d like somewhere in the middle… I’m happiest around April and September when it gets dark around 8pm ish.

Yes - stubborn body clock, so nudging it by just an hour is hugely disruptive. I love autumn but I'll be bloody knackered for the next 2 weeks...

I love changing the clocks, either way. I get excited for it like its special occasion. I'd be raging if they took it away.

So you never have a night where you sleep slightly less? Stay up a bit later? Need to wake up earlier?

1 hr doesn’t remotely have a jet lag effect.

Thank you! That was exactly what I was thinking - the darkness will come anyway.

This is why it doesnt make sense, I believe its psychological

Its 10pm now, so actually on Saturday it would have been 11pm right now

So its my bedtime and as it happens Im now feeling tired at 10pm because its 'actually' 11pm (BST)

So Im going to bed in a minute.

My body doesnt know the clock has changed, it just knows I go to bed around now.

I like this.
I tend to get a bit pissed off with the messing about with BST etc - but I like that you've framed the change as a positive.

Not really. My sensitivity means I keep a regular routine. As recommended by my medical team. When I have late nights and significant changes it effects me.

I can’t go to bed early as I have medication that has to be taken at 10pm. I felt hungry at 11, and feel all out of sorts as my body clock and feelings were out of sync with the time.

Usually it's the spring that effs with people more, but each to their own.

I know for one I couldn't stand GMT+1 year round. Having to get up and leave the house before dawn is miserable; using GMT in winter keeps those days to a minimum.

"Naturally" we would wake up based on the sunrise, not at some forced clock hour. The clock change actually means our wake-up times more closely follow the sunrise, but it's still considerably off.

Maybe in future computerised clocks will be so universal that we can automatically change the clock by a minute a day or something.

Weird. I barely notice the clocks going back - I often feel better if anything as you get an extra hour in bed. When the clocks go forward, however, it's awful, am exhausted for weeks. I am very much a night person though so really feel the effect on the morning wakings, maybe that has something to do with it?

1 hr doesn’t remotely have a jet lag effect.

Saying that 1 hour doesn't have a jet lag effect doesn't change the fact that I have felt jet lagged today OK? Why does everything on MN turn into an argument. I feel the way I feel

For me it's worse than jetlag. That one hour seems to put my body out of sync. It's even worse in the spring

It only takes a quick google search to find lots of articles about the clock change and what is called ‘social jet lag’. It obviously affects some more than others. It’s not in people’s heads though. Many are impacted.

Yes very much me too. Especially as that’s the actual time.

I'm in my 60s, and it hasn't hit me yet

Might be winter blues I use to get it but now I enjoy the winter season by socialising heavy

I hate clocks going back too. The earlier darkness in the evenings just feels so depressing and oppressive to me.

There's a gathering gloom that begins slowly from around 2pm and accelerates vastly between 3pm and 4pm, with total darkness not long after.

I count down the days now until the winter solstice (22nd December?) after which evenings begin slowly stretching out again. I then count down again until the end of March when clocks go forward again and lighter evenings are back. It's my coping mechanism for getting through the dismal winter months.

I wish we could stay on BST all year round as I do need the extra hour of light in the evenings. I know it would be darker for longer in the mornings, but somehow I cope with that far better because I know daylight is coming imminently.

Worst day of the year. Loathe the early darkness, and the knowledge that we've got another five months of this before the spring.

My trick has always been to go to bed and get up an hour earlier the week before the change and to do light exercise in that morning hour.

Ahem:

Several US states have attempted to end daylight savings, although few have actually done so.

A 2022 bill to exempt Virginia said the “overwhelming conclusion” of researchers is that it “directly results” in an increase in heart attacks, traffic accidents, workplace injuries, pedestrian deaths and crime, as well as sleep disruption and a loss of productivity.

It said research has also found a link to seasonal affective disorder, strokes and cardiac arrest.

https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/2023/03/25/stop-the-clock-why-countries-are-killing-daylight-savings-time/

When I was working I hated the clocks going back because being in the office after dark made me feel really anxious and sort of trapped.

Is it the clocks changing or is it winter and the darkness as it could be SAD ( seasonal affective disorder). Or do you also get this feeling in spring

The clocks didn’t go forward, they went back an hour at 2 am. I woke at 4.40 on Sunday and really felt quite shit by t time on Sunday night. I woke at the same time again yesterday and today. I’m feeling pretty tired today and they day really hasn’t started.

I get it with both clock changes. I don’t get SAD, I love the winter!