Has this week felt a little off?
If so, you’re not alone.
Terry Warburton, the clinical director at Eden’s Recovery of Hope Counselling, said that a factor could be Sunday’s time change, which can have lingering effects well past the clock adjustment.
It’s ‘different for everybody’
Warburton emphasized that while losing an hour can affect daily life, the way people experience it is “different for everybody.”
She said that each person’s circumstances during the transition — including where they are personally, whether they are well-rested, already feeling down, or navigating major life changes — can play a significant role.
A person’s temperament, schedule, and flexibility at work can also shape how strongly the time change is felt.
“It’s a biological adjustment,” she said.
“[It’s] our nervous system working really hard to adapt to some changes, so our head can understand it, but our body might not be cooperating with us for a period of time.”
A potential multiplier of pre-existing issues
Warburton said the time change can lead some people to notice more anxious or depressed thoughts and feelings, which may be linked to how the body responds to the shift.
“Our nervous system is trying to adapt to this, … which then can increase our cortisol,” she said.
“Often what I do is I want to find out what’s going on in [someone’s] life, … and then you add time change to it.”
She added that people sometimes underestimate how strongly the change can affect them, and that the adjustment period can last longer than expected.
“Some people take a few days [to adjust], and some people will take a couple of weeks,” she said.
“[For] younger children, it will take much longer.”
How can one address the impact of the time change?
As for how to deal with the detrimental effects of time change, Warburton’s advice boils down to one main concept: Showing grace to oneself (and others).
For children specifically, Warburton recommends introducing incremental changes to the routine in the lead-up to the time change to ease the adjustment.
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A bit of patience — all around — also helps.
“I think it’s really important for the parents to be mindful that everybody might be feeling more frustrated, and that the feelings could be more intense,” she said.
“[Children] are going through a much bigger adjustment. Their brains need more sleep and a more consistent routine to adjust than adults do, so all this is much harder on them. We have to find our mature, adult, balanced self in order to be able to help our kids through this.”
It’s normal to need adjustment time
In the end, the clinical director said it’s “okay and normal” for everyone that bodies need time to adapt to time changes.
“There’s nothing wrong with us, so if … our brain can remind our body of that, [we’ll be better off], because our brain can get us in trouble,” said Warburton.
“[It might think], ‘Why can’t I do this? Why can’t I focus? Why is this happening?’ [We can] give ourselves a bit of grace for a little while to recognize that, yeah, we just might be off for a bit and that’s okay.”
Warburton added that if someone has the luxury of adjusting their schedule and adding extra time for relaxation and/or sleep, it can also be helpful.
“Sleep studies and information tell us all the time [that] the best thing to do is to go to bed at the same time and get up at the same time,” she said.
“Anything that’s good with our sleep routines and hygiene is going to be good for this, and not being on screens at night, maybe dimming the lights, and making the evening a more calming environment so that we can catch up on our sleep and adjust.”
For more about the counselling service, see Recovery of Hope’s website.
With files from Ty Hildebrand and Jayme Giesbrecht