Warning! Daylight Saving Time (DST) is finishing in certain states in Australia. The warning is not so much about missing that coffee appointment with a friend but a serious health warning. Fatal car crashes increase by six per cent in the week following a change in DST. Pedestrian injuries increase along with workplace injuries; strokes and heart attacks. Most of these negative effects are related to changes to our sleep patterns which increase sleep deprivation. When behind the wheel of a car, in particular, this sleep deprivation can leave you feeling drowsy and drowsy driving can be just as dangerous as drunk driving.
I am not here to debate the merits of DST but I may have an overall solution for better sleep.
Research has been conducted in to the link between light and our alertness and overall cognitive and physiological functions. In an ideal world, we would wake with the sun and go to bed when it is dark. In a practical sense, this simply isn’t possible. Imagine sitting in an interview for a new job and the boss tells you the standard work hours are 9am to 5.30pm and you explain that your work times will be linked to sunrise and sunset. I think you would continue your job seeking efforts!
The normal solution is to have a phone or watch or old-fashioned alarm clock that makes some horrific sound that jolts you from your sleep and throws you out of bed invariably when you were in the middle of that beautiful, deep rapid-eye-movement (REM) component of your sleep. This ‘jolt’ will often leave you feeling groggy, in particular when your wake-up time varies from day to day.
Of course technology has a solution.
There are a range of alarm clocks known as sunrise alarm clocks. The general idea is that they bring the sun inside your bedroom at night before you go to bed to slowly decrease the light in your room to mimic a sunset and the gradual slowdown of body functions. In the morning, at a pre-determined time, the light intensity starts to increase to the point where you would think the sun is shining brightly through your window. Despite the fact that your eyes are closed, your eyes can still detect the level of brightness in a room and communicate with your brain to tell you, as it has done for centuries, that it is light outside therefore it must be time to wake up.
These range of sunrise alarm clocks have a variety of features to enhance your waking routine. Some will start with a deep orange colour that matches the early sunrise and transitions to a golden 3,500 K on its way to a midday sun at 5,000 K. So not only does the brightness change but the actual colour of the light changes to mimic the sun.
It is no surprise that some are able to be controlled by your smartphone and set up schedules for your week going forward. If you have a partner in the same room with you, it may not be convenient to have the entire room flooded with light. Fear not! NASA developed sleep masks for their astronauts to ensure they received adequate sleep when they may experience multiple sunrises in a 24-hour period and you can now buy a facemask that uses the same technology as that used by their explorers. Have your own little personal sunset and sunrise right on your face with no disturbance to a loved one sleeping beside you.
Tell me the ideal way for you to wake up at ask@techtalk.digital
Mathew Dickerson