7 Tips to Safeguard Your Sleep For Daylight Savings
The clocks spring forward an hour this Sunday on March 8th, 2026 for Daylight Savings (DST).
Here’s 7 tips to keep your sleep safe as the days grow longer.
There's nothing quite like the particular misery of the Monday morning after Daylight Savings. Here’s how it usually goes: The alarm goes off. We groggily peel ourselves out of bed, not quite sure why we feel so exhausted when we went to sleep at the usual time. Then someone at work (or, let’s be honest, social media) clues us in: It was Daylight Savings (DST) last night.
Beyond the grogginess, DST carries surprising consequences. Car accident rates spike in the days following the time change as sleep-deprived drivers hit the road.1 Parents face the extra battle of getting kids — whose circadian rhythms are even more sensitive and later-synched than adults' — out the door and to school on time. Perhaps most sobering: research has found a 24% increase in heart attack risk in the days immediately following the spring time change.2
Is DST hurting your health? Dig into the science →
The good news?
A little preparation goes a long way towards protecting your sleep and health. Here are 7 tips to help protect your sleep this Sunday.
① Start shifting your bedtime back, 2-3 nights before
Trying to force your brain from an 11pm bedtime to 10pm in one night is a recipe for hours staring at the ceiling. Instead, start nudging your routine back by 15–30 minutes every night, beginning 2-3 days before the change. Small, incremental shifts are far easier for your brain to adapt to. By Sunday, the transition should feel far less jarring.
② Build (or lean into) a wind-down routine
If you don't already have a wind-down routine, now's the perfect time to build one. Try: dimming the lights, a hot shower, light reading, gentle stretching, or a few minutes of deep breathing. Done consistently, these calming ‘rest and relax’ habits help create reliable signals your brain can use to begin shifting into sleep mode.
③ Use evening light strategically
Light suppresses melatonin, which usually makes it a no-go in the evening. But during the DST transition, evening light can actually work in your favor. If you're trying to push through drowsiness to your new target bedtime without crashing mid-evening, keep your space bright and don’t be afraid of a little blue light from your laptop or phone. Just remember to dim the lights ~1 hour before your ideal bedtime, to cue your brain that it’s finally time for sleep.
④ Get 5 minutes of natural light as soon as you wake up
Even if you didn't fall asleep at the ideal time the night before, morning light is one of the most powerful tools you have for resetting your sleep/wake schedule. Just 5–10 minutes of natural light shortly after waking helps set your circadian rhythms on the right schedule for energy through the day. It also helps time your body’s natural melatonin release at the right point in the evening, making it easier to fall asleep at your target bedtime.
⑤ Move your workout earlier in the day
Exercise spikes cortisol, providing a natural energy boost in the 2-3 hours that follow. So whether it's your usual training session or just a brisk morning walk, try to schedule your usual movement routine earlier than usual during this transition. The bonus effect: as cortisol rises earlier, your body's natural melatonin release follows suit, helping you feel naturally more tired when bedtime rolls around.
⑥ Be mindful with that extra cup of coffee
You might be tempted to lean on an extra cup of coffee to survive the transition, but proceed with caution. Caffeine stays active in your system for ~12 hours, meaning the coffee you drink at 2pm could still be active at 2am. The impact can include difficulty falling asleep, but even if you can sleep easily — the costs don’t end there.
Dr. Matt Walker reports that even a single cup of caffeine in the evening can strip deep sleep brainwave activity by 20-40%. To safeguard his sleep quality, Somnee CEO Tim Rosa cuts off the drip by 11am. Many sleep scientists draw the line at 12–1pm.3
⑦ Resist the urge to nap late in the day
When the afternoon slump hits hard, a nap can be tempting… But taking one too late could work against you. From the moment you wake up, your brain accumulates a chemical called adenosine, which builds "sleep pressure" that makes you increasingly drowsy as the day goes on, and is designed to help you sleep easily come bedtime. A nap releases some of that pressure, making it harder to fall asleep later when you actually need to.
If you genuinely need to rest, aim to nap before 2pm and keep it short: 15–20 minutes is the sweet spot. Any longer and you risk dipping into a full sleep cycle, which can leave you groggier than before, and short on the sleep pressure you need come bedtime.
High Quality Sleep on Your Schedule,
with Somnee
Adjusting your sleep schedule doesn't have to be a battle of willpower. Somnee's personalized neurostimulation nudges your brain’s natural sleep signals into their optimal patterns, helping you fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer. So whether you're navigating Daylight Savings, fighting jet lag, or just want better nights — Somnee’s ready to help you sleep on your schedule.
→ Try Somnee 45 days risk-free
