ST. LOUIS — Sunday morning, we all had to spring our clocks forward an hour.
That may have left you grumbling a bit when you got out of bed with an hour less of sleep. But, the health effects could run deeper than that.
Experts say, slashing an hour during the daylight saving time change affects our circadian rhythm-- the 24-hour clock that your body follows based on the light it’s exposed to.
Our social clock is thrown off, leaving our biological clock ticking faster to catch up.
Though most people like the idea of having longer evenings as it warms up, less sleep can trigger short-term insomnia, fatigue, irritability and difficulty thinking straight.
We asked people around the Lou how they’re feeling on the first day of the time change.
We spoke to Saarah Kison who said, “I definitely feel a little sluggish that day, for sure. It takes a little bit of an adjustment.”
Julien Nicolas was walking downtown with her. He said, “I feel groggy. I feel angry. I don’t like it at all.”
Jarod Willmon, a spring breaker in St. Louis here from Iowa, shared, “It feels like less sleep. The day and a few days after.”
His friends Carter Klanderud and Sam Larkin are visiting St. Louis with him.
Klanderud said, "Most of the time, I don’t even notice it when we lose an hour of sleep. But, when we gain an hour of sleep, I love that."
Larkin said, “I definitely enjoy the extra hour of sunlight, and I think it helps fight my seasonal depression that I sometimes get when it’s extra dark outside all the time.”
In 2021, lawmakers in Missouri proposed a bill that would permanently put the state at daylight saving time, if three of eight bordering states follow suit.
The Missouri House approved the plan, but the Missouri Senate didn’t vote on it before the session ended.
