PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Mariam Means of North Philadelphia knows exactly what she will be doing with her extra hour when we turn our clocks back this weekend from daylight saving time to standard time.
“I’m sleeping,” said Means.
She won’t be alone in that activity this weekend when we “fall back” at 2 a.m. Sunday.
Philip Gehrman, an associate psychology professor at the University of Pennsylvania, says our bodies can feel out of sync when we change the clocks.
“It essentially creates jetlag that — temporarily — the timing of our internal clock is an hour out of sync with the environment around us,” said Gehrman. “Most people adjust within one to three days.”
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Gehrman says there are some things you can do to help you adjust to the time change faster. One is to eat meals at the same time every day. The other is to make sure you get outside when the sun is up.
“One of the best ways that our body adjusts is through exposure to bright light,” said Gehrman. “Bright light exposure when we're awake synchronizes our internal clock with the environment.”
To many, the tradeoff of the return to standard time involves that earlier sunset.
“I'm actually fine with that. I like the darkness, so I like it,” said Means.
“I've never really noticed a difference because I do go to sleep when it gets dark.”
“I hate it. I think it throws you off,” Cindy Anstey of Cape May, New Jersey admitted. She said it usually takes her some time to adjust after we change the clocks.
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“Eventually, it just sort of comes around,” said Anstey. “My sleep pattern generally straightens out after a bit.”
She said her previous job on the night shift became more challenging on the early morning with the extra hour.
The hour you gain now will be lost when we move our clocks forward in the spring. Anstey doesn’t really see the point in doing either.
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“It doesn't make sense in this time and age,” she said. “We're not farmers.”
“I think it's ridiculous.” her husband Chris Anstey said. “Let's just get rid of it.”
Members of Congress are pushing to do exactly that, to make daylight saving time permanent.
The Senate in March passed a bipartisan bill, named the Sunshine Protection Act, to end the back and forth. The House has not acted on the measure.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.