Changing With the Time
I noticed the birds the other morning as I stood outside watching the sunrise at 7 a.m. in hopes of resetting my melatonin levels. I was counting the days till the clocks change. The lack of light in the morning was keeping me sleeping and sleepy. I knew that letting the sun hit me as early as possible would help my body have more energy at the right time of day. I heard the birds stirring and thought of how naturally they stay sleeping until the sunrise, so although they were up and active at 5 a.m. in the summer, they see nothing wrong with sleeping in an extra two hours as we head closer to the winter solstice.
I’m not actually in favor of Daylight Savings Time, as I find it highly unreasonable to think we can all just switch time on a dime and not feel the effects. It’s really emphasizing linear over natural time. However, it can also keep us a little closer to the natural cycles if we adjust how long we sleep. There was a time, before electric light, when humans would do as the birds do, and sleep longer in winter. So during the close to fifteen hours of darkness on December days, nine or ten of them might be spent in bed.
I don’t expect we could switch easily back to that, but I am paying attention as my body craves more sleep, and I notice cold symptoms developing. Maybe it’s time to switch off my electric light and do as the birds do, accept the change in season and get more rest as we approach the darkest days of the year.
I know some people hate having the darkness come earlier when the clocks are turned back, and I agree the suddenness is hard to take. But I think it’s sane to decide to slow down activity this time of year.