Time change problems with the winter time

Blue-colored light against disturbances of the biorhythm

25/10/2013

On the last Sunday of October, as every year, summer time ends. During the night from Saturday to Sunday, the clocks are reset from three o'clock to two o'clock. If summer time has actually been introduced to make better use of daylight and save energy, it is clear today that this approach has failed. However, the time change in many people has a massive impact on the biorhythm. Not only because their sleep times are delayed by one hour, but also because the usual mealtimes change.

Since 1980, the summer time in Germany, in which the clocks are presented on the first Sunday in March of each year compared to the normal time (the present winter time) by one hour. The basic idea was to make better use of natural light to save energy, especially in view of the oil crisis in 1973. Since 2001, the „central European Summer Time“ throughout the European Union (EU). However, the time change remains controversial until today, because the hoped-for energy savings could not be realized and many people are extremely difficult with the sudden time shift. The biorhythm takes some time to adapt to the shift.

Biorhythm is sensitive to the time change
Basically, the effects of time change between Lark and Owl types to distinguish. Lark types are people who wake up early in the morning and reach their most active phase relatively early in the day, while owl people tend to be late sleepers who remain active until late in the evening. The owl types have considerable problems especially with the change to the summer time, while the larks types show more difficulties with the biorhythm in the upcoming conversion to the winter time. They wake up long before work and are often so tired in the early afternoon that they can lie down. In general, however, all people show a more or less strong effect of the time change on their biorhythm. The shift in the light-dark phases in relation to the time of day and the usual daily rhythm, for example, causes many people to struggle with sleep problems in the days after the time change, which in turn can lead to impaired concentration and increased fatigue during the day.

Four out of ten Germans have sleep problems due to the time change
The negative effects of the time change on the sleep rhythm is also confirmed by a recent representative forsa survey commissioned by the Kaufmännische Krankenkasse (KKH). More than 1,000 participants were asked about the perceived effects of the changeover from summer to winter time. According to the results of the survey „Four in ten Germans have time-shifting problems - women (46 percent) significantly more than men (36 percent)“, so the message of the KKH. Most sufferers would need a few days to get back to normal sleep patterns. Nine percent of women and four percent of men said they were suffering from the time change.

Changes in sleep patterns in autumn and winter
The survey also found that, in general, women are struggling to make greater adjustments to their sleep patterns during the upcoming dark season, according to the KKH. Almost half of the women said that they sleep more in autumn and winter than in the summer half-year. According to their own statements, only one third of the men needed more sleep in winter and autumn than in summer. Even if the need for sleep increases in the dark season, one should „Do not oversleep the day completely“, emphasizes Harry Konrad of the KKH service team casting in the current press release of the health insurance. Movement in the fresh air stimulates the circulation, activates body cells and can thus strengthen the immune system. „In addition, sunlight is important for the formation of vitamin D, another natural helper against impending colds“, Konrad continues.

Blue-colored light against tiredness
As a tip for the lark-type people to compensate for biorhythmia by the time change on Sunday called the chief physician of the clinic sleep medicine at the St. Hedwig Hospital in Berlin, Dieter Kunz, in a recent press release of the news agency „dpa“ blue-colored light. As soon as it gets dark, the lark types should turn it on, as the high blue light will cheer up and help overcome chronic fatigue, the expert explained. Light with a particularly high blue content, for example, produces special lights against winter depression from the pharmacy. (Fp)