One Hour

     This last weekend was one of the two weekends I dread every year. The weekend of the time change. The one for ending day light savings time, in the fall, isn't so bad because we get to add an hour into our day. Well, not really, but we set the clock back one hour, like novice time travelers, and revel in the extra hour of sleep (at least that's what I usually use my hour for.) It is a time to renew, feel rested, finally catch up a little from all the sleep we lose during the year (yeah, right). We love the head game we play.
     But this time change, going into daylight savings time, is murder. Don't get me wrong...adding an hour in the fall upsets my bio-rhythms (wow! how long has it been since you've heard THAT word?) I have trouble sleeping and organizing my day and even with that extra hour of sleep, I still feel behind for the effort. The spring jump is harder though. Neither of the time changes interrupt my waking up hour. It's always dark when I get up at 5:30, but it is all downhill from there, especially in the spring. I know why we do this: to save energy. I know when we started this: during WWII in an effort to have more productive days. But I'm just wondering if it isn't messing with our natural human systems. I don't know anyone who isn't affected by the time change, and I definitely know it messes with mine. Because it stays light so much later I am always wondering why it is so late and I haven't done something: make dinner, get to meetings on time etc... It upsets my natural clock. For instance: Saturday, I not only lost an hour of sleep, my body woke up an hour earlier in the middle of the night and I couldn't get back to sleep. I usually have to get up once in the night and I have always had a hard time returning to sleep once my body is upright, but now until my systems adjusts, I will be just as tired as I was before and now just that much more guilty about wasting another hour of sunlight! This is a no-win situation, any way you look at it!
     I can't wait for next week. My system will have resettled. Things may seem back to a normal state. I will adapt and begin to be better at appointments and dinner. And I will enjoy the longer periods of sunshine, especially when I have time off this summer. I'll get in the groove and then before we know it, it will be October, and in my continual head game, I'm already looking forward to getting that hour of sleep back...