The 2024 winter time change is coming very soon! You should even think about it this weekend…
The 2024 winter time change, scheduled for the last weekend of October, is fast approaching. It will result in a one-hour time shift and you should not forget to set your alarm clocks, watches, or household appliances which will not do it automatically, unlike your smartphone. If we “gain” an hour of sleep and if winter time is the closest to the so-called “solar” or “natural” time (France goes from GMT +2 to GMT +1), many specialists agree that say that this time change in the middle of autumn disrupts our biological rhythm just as much as that of summer.
To avoid too sudden an upheaval, it is advisable to prepare in advance to anticipate and not suffer the change to winter time. By taking action now, everything will go much better and the change will be easier to live with. Gentle adaptation is particularly recommended by several doctors and “chronobiologists” for young children, the elderly, or those suffering from sleep disorders.
< p >To help our biological clock adapt, it is indeed preferable to adjust our bedtimes and waking times early and gradually. Starting well in advance of the time change date is a first step and it is therefore this weekend that we must think about it. With 7 days to go, in other words the Saturday before the time change weekend, we advise you to set your alarm 10 minutes earlier and go to bed the night before accordingly. On Sunday, go to 15 minutes, then to 25 minutes on Monday, 20 to 30 minutes earlier until Wednesday, 30 to 45 minutes on Friday and of course one hour earlier on the Saturday before the time change.
You can do the same for meal times. It is also recommended to limit stimulants in the days preceding this time change in order to optimize your sleep. Coffee, tea, sodas, alcohol should be avoided after 4 p.m., screens at least two hours before bedtime. You should also take advantage of the brightness while there is still time, go out as soon as you can and do some exercise to tire yourself out a little.
For the rest, the rule does not change: the time change takes place every last weekend of October, so on the night of October 26 to 27. At 3 a.m., we will jump back 2 hours. Advantage for some: this time change falls right in the middle of the All Saints' Day holidays. But be careful afterward too! On Sunday morning, don't hang around in bed too long, otherwise the shock on Monday will be terrible. Go out and see the light of day. And if you feel tired in the days that follow, you can resort to short naps, as long as they are short (between 10 and 20 minutes) and before 3 p.m.