On Sunday 29 March we lose an hour’s sleep as the clocks go forward by an hour. If you have to get up first thing for the commute, an early shift, school run or training, then next Monday could be extra challenging. While it’s tempting to compensate for the lost hour with an extra hour of snoozing on Sunday, it’s better for your body clock if you get up at your usual time.
Here’s Lumie’s three-step plan to help you manage it:
This plan is based on a typical routine of bedtime at 11pm and wake-up at 7am – simply adjust to your own sleep pattern as necessary.
Step 1: Saturday am – get up about half an hour earlier than usual (6.30am). Yes, it’s the weekend but think how much more you’ll get done!
Step 2: Saturday night – go to bed about 10.30 pm. The earlier than normal start should mean that you are extra tired and able to sleep earlier than usual. Remember to put your clock forward by an hour!
Step 3: Sunday am – wake up at 6am (BST 7am).
To help further, ideally wake with your Lumie Bodyclock and then get some bright light first thing, either by using a Lumie bright light over breakfast or by getting outside for a bit of exercise.
By Sunday morning, you should be ready to wake up around 6am, but of course, if you’ve reset your clock to the new time, it will read 7am, putting you back to your usual wake-up time. You’ll have benefited from an extra day of adjustment to the new time. So on Sunday, when everyone else is suffering from lack of sleep, you'll be energised and set up for a good night's sleep, ready for the week ahead.
Finding it hard to get up is often a biological problem, where the circadian rhythms that control our body clock have got out of sync. We all know that feeling of sleep inertia, the inability to feel alert and perform when we first awake. Studies have shown that wake-up lights like Lumie Bodyclock, which simulate a gentle sunrise during the last 30 minutes of sleep, can help set your body clock to wake up at the right time and make you feel ready to get up. Light stimulates production of hormones that help us to get up and go, including cortisol, while suppressing those that bring on sleep. Lumie’s light boxes, which can be switched on while you eat breakfast, will also help to reset and maintain the timing of the body clock.
“Adjusting your body clock with light therapy will not only help you to feel more awake in the morning but will also lift your mood, energy and productivity all day, and help you to feel ready for sleep when it’s time for bed.” Jonathan Cridland, CEO, Lumie.
“Light therapy is a really effective tool for keeping your body clock on track and it’s especially useful when the clocks change. Following Lumie’s simple plan should help you adjust more easily to British Summer Time.” Dr Victoria Revell, Circadian Clock expert, University of Surrey
About Lumie
Since 1991 Lumie has been researching and designing bright lights to treat seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and other conditions. Our first Bodyclock dawn simulator – an alarm that wakes you up with increasing levels of light – was the world’s first wake-up light and brought light therapy into the mainstream. We also designed and developed Lumie Clear, a unique hand held device that uses combined blue and red light therapy to treat acne.
Over the years Lumie has worked closely with the scientific community. All of our products – the broadest range in Europe – are based on published research and designed by us from our base in Cambridge. Lumie is in the EuRhythDia consortium investigating circadian rhythms and type 2 diabetes, and is working with Liverpool John Moores University sports science department. We continue to research new applications for light therapy.
Lumie products are medical devices, certified to the Medical Devices Directive (93/42EEC)and supplied to the NHS on an occasional basis. Distance and brightness levels (lux) are independently verified and Lumie is registered with the government's Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency.
The benefits of light therapy reach far beyond SAD. Our lights help you to sleep well and get up in the morning, beat the afternoon slump, conquer jetlag and look after your skin. They also optimise sports performance and we are proud to provide lights to some of Great Britain’s elite athletes as well as acting as official suppliers to British Swimming.
Two of our wake-up lights, Active and Elite, provide white noise as an option. If you are trying to sleep in a noisy environment or during the day, white noise helps to muffle other sounds, like traffic or people talking.
In the UK our products are available through www.lumie.com as well as major retailers like John Lewis, Boots, amazon, Selfridges and wiggle.co.uk and we have an expanding network of distributors across Europe and in North America. For consumers buying through www.lumie.com we provide a home trial on all products.
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Contact:
Ruth Jackson
PR Manager, Lumie
Tel: 01954 786115
Mob: 07914 812261
Facebook: Lumie.light.therapy
Twitter: @lumie_lights
Pinterest: Lumie
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