On Sunday (27 March) we lose an hour’s sleep as the clocks go forward by an hour. Much as we welcome the longer evenings and brighter Spring days, losing that hour of sleep is going to make the next week or so extra tough for those who already get up early for the commute, an early shift, school run or training. While it’ll be tempting to hit the snooze button on Sunday, that will further disrupt your body clock, making the early start on Monday even harder. Instead, the trick is to advance your body clock back by an hour in the run up to clock change:
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).
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 going for a walk or run.
“Light is our body’s strongest cue for knowing when to wake up and when to go to sleep. It is an easy, non-drug way to sleep better at night and feel more alert during the day.”- Prof Sonia Ancoli-Israel, Director, Gillin Sleep and Chronomedicine Research Center, University of California
Waking with light is proven* to help you feel more awake in the morning, lift your mood, energy and productivity all day, and help you to feel ready for sleep when it’s time for bed. In the morning, light enters the eye through the eyelids and then stimulates the brain to suppress the sleep hormones like melatonin while increasing the get up and go ones like cortisol. Without a strong light stimulus our internal body clock tends to drifter later and later each day making it harder and harder to get up and get going. Once you’re awake, you can use a bright light during the day to give you a further boost of energy and to banish any slumps, typically after lunch.
*Acta Psychiatr Scand. 1993 Jul;88 (1): 67-71
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, Neal’s Yard 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 45 day trial period on all products and a dedicated customer careline.
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Contact:
Ruth Jackson
PR Manager, Lumie
Tel: 01954 786115
Mob: 07914 812261
Facebook: Lumie.light.therapy
Twitter: @lumie_lights
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