As I get older, Daylight Savings Time affects me more and more.
As a person with a chronic illness that is most affected by how much I sleep, it bothers me even more.
My body is one that responds really well to a set schedule and 7.5-8 hours of sleep a night. It likes to go to bed when it is dark and get up when it is light. And I have blackout shades in my room and lights on a timer to make that happen for myself.
What really screws me up is the change in light during the day that is all of a sudden. I do really well with the gradual change in light as the days get longer or shorter. My body seems to understand this, and while I notice it, the gradual change doesn’t affect me.
But the jump ahead an hour or even the fall back really messes with my whole natural body rhythms. Jet lag kills me too, and I sometimes wonder if that is why I don’t travel more often.
So, today, I am quite tired and feeling like I want to go back to bed.
I do try to think about time as a brain construct, but knowing it is a construct that we all have to follow. I would love to stop measuring time altogether and not have the stress of “trying to do things on time” be a problem. But, the rest of society doesn’t think that way. We work with deadlines, and set hours that we work, and set schedules of the people and things around us. I live and work in that world, so I don’t have the luxury of making all my time my own. I will try to use my time wisely and make it valuable, even as I try to understand that I will have enough.
And I will still be tired and messed up around this time change. And I will rant about it until we finally come to our senses and end it for good.
With that, I will end this rant and go take a nap. Because today, that might be the best use of my time.
If you are not going through this time change, I envy you. If you are, I wish you all the time you need to feel rested this week.
Have a great week everybody!
🙂