Experts' Advice on Adapting Your Body to Darker Days

On the last Sunday, for the first time this season, Americans faced late-afternoon sunset as the clocks rolled back from daylight saving time to standard time.

This change in time is more than just an earlier sunset—it’s a marker of the shorter days to come in wintertime.

On the internet, individuals are preparing for fewer daylight hours by discussing ways to combat the “winter blues,” a common term used to describe the increased feeling of dejection during colder, darker periods.

The shift between daylight saving and standard time, along with short winter days, can have an impact on health, according to experts.

The early sunsets can lead to circadian rhythm problems or even serious mental health disorders like seasonal affective disorder.

Dr. Aarti Grover, the medical director of the Center for Sleep Medicine at Tufts Medical Center, told Health, “The adjustment may take about a week.”

Adapting certain lifestyle habits can smoothen this transition and make the ensuing winter season more tolerable. However, continuous low light discomfort indicates a major problem.

“Circadian issues can’t be blamed solely on the clock,” Grover stated. "It’s necessary not to overlook other factors that may be affecting your mood and adjustment to darker days.”

Let's delve into the impact of daylight on our body and effective ways to acclimate to the earlier winter sunsets.

Although majority Americans favor daylight saving time, numerous health experts concur that it's healthier for people to stay on standard time.

Standard time is more in line with the majority's circadian rhythm, according to Dr. Oren Cohen, an assistant professor of medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

On one hand, daylight saving time extends evening sunlight by delaying the clock, while standard time reverts back to a normal clock schedule making mornings brighter.

The daylight in the morning and evening darkness allow the body to wake up and sleep properly, respectively.

“School and work dictate our wake-up time,” said Cohen. "Your sleep health benefits from exposure to early morning sunlight."

The transition from daylight saving to standard time in fall, despite the disliked earlier sunsets, is healthier than the reverse spring transition.

“Switching the standard time feels like experiencing jetlag of an hour,” stated Dr. Kenneth Lee, medical director of the Sleep Disorders Center at UChicago Medicine. “For most people, it is easier to return to standard time.”

Even though reversion to standard time is generally healthier and offers an extra hour of sleep, changing the clocks twice a year can be detrimental to people’s health.

Already, many individuals struggle to regulate their circadian rhythm with their sleeping pattern, stated Cohen. Whenever we adjust the clock, it poses a risk to those who already find maintaining a consistent sleep schedule challenging.

Although returning to standard time enhances overall circadian rhythm and sleep, early sunsets and shorter winter days can have adverse effects on some people.

“Typically, individuals prone to seasonal affective disorders can be more affected during the months of short or dark days,” Grover noted. “The scarcity of sunlight can lower the levels of serotonin, our feel-good brain hormone.”

Primarily deriving from sunlight, vitamin D assists our body in regulating serotonin and melatonin which helps facilitate sleep.

Studies suggest that a lack of sunlight might be causing low serum serotonin levels or high melatonin levels in winter-pattern seasonal affective disorder (SAD) patients.

Winter SAD patients commonly exhibit symptoms like continuous sadness or anxiety, hopelessness, fatigue, sleeping too much, social withdrawal, and overeating.

These symptoms are particularly common in individuals suffering from mood disorders like anxiety, depression, or bipolar disorder.

People with a “delayed sleep phase” or late sleepers may find adjusting to the winter darkness challenging as they get fewer hours of sunlight compared to early risers, added Cohen.

It’s fairly common for people to just feel a bit lower during darker days—a 2022 poll found that almost 40% of Americans say their mood declines during the winter. These “winter blues” are not SAD, but can still affect people’s overall wellbeing when it gets dark.

“This doesn’t really have to do with standard time in particular, but the days being shorter in general,” said Lee, “it has its effects on the body, in terms of mood and depression.”

It’s very normal for people to take a few days to adjust to the changed clocks.

“It does take some time for people to get used to the time switch to standard time,” said Lee. “Most people can adjust within a few days, some people it could be even longer.”

That said, there are changes that people can make to help ease into the transition of shorter days, experts say.

Light boxes can be an artificial way to get more sunlight, and people can talk to their doctor to see if they might “help improve mood, help improve seasonal affective disorder, and to help adjust to the earlier time,” Cohen said.

But natural light is still the best, he clarified. If possible, it’s best to get outside for 15 to 30 minutes after waking up to get some exposure to natural light.

Additionally, exercise is crucial during the winter months, even if it’s harder to find the motivation to move. Cohen explained that exercise promotes good sleep and can release endorphins which are also helpful for beating wintertime changes in mood.

The most important thing to do is to maintain a consistent sleep schedule, Grover said.

“Just like setting an alarm to wake up, I think it’s also important to try and set an alarm to go to sleep, or at least a time to start that wind-down period prior to going to bed,” Cohen added.

And though darker days carry a risk of worse mental health for some people, Lee and Cohen emphasized that standard time and dark evenings aren’t all bad.

In the summer “it can be difficult to get to bed because of this natural outdoor exposure to light,” Cohen said. “I think that can be a positive, the fact that the sun is setting earlier. It should clue people into, ‘Well, this is a time, this is a period of the year for me to really reset my sleep habits.’”

That said, if sleep or mood problems continue to linger for weeks or months past the traditional transition time, it’s best to get a psychologist, sleep specialist, or other healthcare professional involved, Lee and Cohen said.

“People are going to be affected by this on an individual basis,” said Cohen. “People need to have a health and wellness plan [...] because it can be a very difficult time for a lot of people.”