The early morning of this Saturday the 26th for Sunday the 27th will change the time in Spain: at 3:00 in the morning it will go back one hour and it will be 2:00 again (peninsular time). This will make sunrise and sunset happen earlier. Thus, the night from Saturday to Sunday will have one more hour in Spain. Although the change of a single hour may seem minor, it actually has effects on the body, especially in population groups considered most vulnerable.
Who are the most affected by the time change?
The Older adults and children are the most affected and they may need a longer adaptation, since their biological clock is less flexible, explains Sergio D. Paredes, director of the Department of Physiology at the Complutense University of Madrid. Specifically, the elderly may have early fatigue and difficulty maintaining sleep until the end of the night, waking up early, he adds.
Ferran Barbé, professor of medicine at the University of Lleida, indicates that older adults, in general, have more difficulties with sleep. “The older person may sleep the same hours, but not accumulated at night, they have a more fragmented sleep. Anything that involves changing schedules worsens this situation of relative anarchy,” he says.
How does it affect school-aged children?
Young and school-age children are among those most affected by this change. It will be difficult for them to go to sleep at the usual time and also get up. This can generate irritation, difficulty maintaining attention and tantrums, explains Berbé. Children sleep more than adults and have more rigid schedules. So, by abruptly changing their schedule, their biological clock becomes desynchronized, he adds.
For his part, Gonzalo Pin, pediatrician and coordinator of the Sleep and Chronobiology Committee of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics, explains that during the first four or five years of life the biological clocks are still maturing, so time changes do have an influence on the little ones. “These days we are going to have problems with falling asleep, waking up, tantrum crises and learning crises,” he warns.
What is the difference with newborns?
Newborns, up to one year of age, do not have a 24-hour clock, explains Pedro Gorrotxategi, president of the Spanish Association of Primary Care Pediatrics. They have rhythms of approximately four hours. So, the time change does not greatly influence them because they will continue with this rhythm of getting up and eating every four hours, he adds. “It doesn’t influence them much that we get up an hour later because there is no variation for their rhythm,” he says.
How long does it take for a person to get used to it?
Specialists agree that it takes about a week, it can be five to ten days, for children, the elderly and adults to get used to the time change.
What can be done to reduce the impact?
For children, Gorrotxategi recommends varying the already established routines little by little in the previous days. For example, putting children to bed a little earlier progressively for several days and not doing it suddenly from one day to the next. Also, give them more darkness at night and more light in the morning so that the circadian rhythm gets used to the new schedule. Another recommendation, which applies to time changes and in general, is not to use screens or electrical devices at night so that children do not become active.
For adults, Berbé indicates that it is best to avoid exciting factors such as coffee, tobacco and alcohol at night and before going to sleep. Also, avoid eating too close to bedtime; the same with physical activity. The latter is best done in the morning or a few hours before going to bed. Likewise, modify the schedule little by little, in quarters of an hour, so that in a few days the internal clock is synchronized.
Does it also affect adults?
The time change affects adults less, although it may influence some. “There are individual sensitivities, there are those who are affected by irritation, bad mood, lack of concentration, less reflexes,” says Berbé.
Paredes adds that by reducing daylight hours in the afternoon, adults may suffer certain mood changes. A “social jet lag” can also occur where the “wall clock” tells us a time when we should go to work or eat, but the biological clock is not prepared.
What schedule is best for people’s health?
This topic is still object of debate among specialists. However, some point out that winter time is better because it is the one that most closely matches people’s biological schedule and is best suited to good sleep hygiene. “This time change brings us closer to the appropriate and least harmful environmental schedule. Winter time is what we should have because it brings us closer to our time zone,” explains Pin. “When you move away from the environmental schedule, the quality of life is worse,” he adds. He maintains that daylight saving time (which will begin on March 30, 2025), although it is the one that people like the most, increases sleep problems due to the time of sunrise and sunset.
