In the entire European Union, it is passed for summer time last Sunday Marchand until winter time returns on the last Sunday of October. This year time change So the summer will take place on the night of March 29-30.
As PAP said prof. Elżbieta Pyza from the Jagiellonian University, such changes destabilize the general functioning of the body and we usually need some time to adapt to new conditions. Changing time to summer is much more difficult for the body than the transition to winter. People who start work early in the morning can feel a particularly severe change.
“However, there are large individual differences when it comes to the ability to adapt to such changes. In some, the circulated rhythm generated by the clock has a very low amplitude, so in these cases all changes related to travel or seasonal time changes will not be so severe” – the researcher pointed out.
The circadian clock must be tuned with external conditions. This is how you can help yourself
She explained that the circulated clock mechanism regulates the body's daily rhythms, but this clock must also synchronize with external conditions. Therefore, changes in this mode, such as time changes, lead to the dysregulation between what is happening outside and the internal clock indications.
Our circadian clock cyclically sets the pores of our activity and rest. “We do not maintain the maximum level of activity throughout the day. We have its peaks and declines, which is important for the synchronization of physiological processes. This regulation begins at the level of gene expression” – noted prof. Pyza.
If we want to go through as possible as possible through time changefirst of all, it is worth remembering to ensure and maintain the body's work in constant mode: food at certain times, exercises at a timely manner, constant time of falling asleep and reasons.
Of course, not all of these activities will perform at the same time. Everyone must first of all determine what activity is right for him, at which time.
“If we determine such a program of various activities per day, we will have better condition, better functioning and better sleep at night. Disrunging our clock affects the development of diseases, life expectancy, fitness. By maintaining the rhythm of activities during the day, we help in adapting our circular clock to the rhythm of the external change of day and night” – explained the interlocutor of PAP.
This should be avoided when changing time
When you change time to summer, when we lose an hour of sleep, an earlier position will not necessarily have an effect. “It may result in the fact that during this hour we will fall from side to side and none of it will be. Of course, it is best to delay the time of getting out of bed. The closer to someone to the chronotype of the owl, the greater the discomfort and a sense of disorganization during the week will feel” – noted prof. Pyza.
Sometimes a nap during the day may be a solution, but – as she noted – it must be very short. “Because if someone lay down for a long time, then this day is lost. A nap, which lasts, for example, an hour, can then completely disorganize the rest of the day, and additionally create a problem with falling asleep in the evening” – she pointed out.
Melatonin can also help, which – after consulting a doctor – can reach people very sensitive to changes in circular rhythm and the elderly, because the level of melatonin decreases with age.
“It seems that since when we change time, we shorten sleep by only an hour, one day it should be enough for everything to return to normal. Unfortunately, this process can move until the next weekend and then it is worth trying to make up for the lack of sleep and rest; this is obviously not the best method to adapt to new conditions, but it will give us more time to get the body to summer time” – said the researcher.
The body is moved much longer to new time zone, which we feel in the case of transcontinental travel.
“Then we can be accompanied by a whole range of various symptoms related to the new time zone, which we can compensate with various methods. Adaptation to these changes takes as many as the hours of shift over time, i.e. if we have five hours of shift, it translates into five days of adaptation” – said the researcher.
EKR/ BAR/ MHR/