Why Daylight Saving Time Feels Like a Personal Betrayal—And What It’s Doing to Our Health

You’re probably feeling it right now. The grogginess, the mental fog, the need for a nap that you can’t quite justify. Yes, it’s that time of year again—the dreaded daylight saving time switch. For millennials, already balancing the stresses of a pandemic, remote work, and a looming financial crisis, the time change feels less like a quirk of timekeeping and more like a small, personal betrayal. And while most of us may just power through with caffeine and the occasional existential rant, sleep scientists are starting to back up what we've all known in our gut: the time change is a health hazard.

Take Josh Lucas, a Pittsburgh resident who, like many of us, finds himself disoriented by the sudden shift. “You get acclimated to a way of being, and then all of a sudden the sky is a different color, and you have to still function in the normal way,” he said, describing the confusion that comes with the spring-forward routine. And he’s not wrong.

Sleep researchers are clear about it: the time change disrupts our circadian rhythm, that biological orchestra that keeps everything in sync, from our sleep cycles to our metabolism. But when daylight saving hits, it’s like pulling out the conductor’s baton. The result? Health consequences. Higher rates of car accidents, strokes, heart attacks, and even fatal overdoses—just a few of the grim side effects in the days following the switch. It’s like the universe collectively decides we need a reset, and the cost is in measurable ways.

For those of us living in the western edges of our time zones, like those in Michigan or parts of California, it’s even worse. We’re already dealing with later sunrises, which means the time change leaves us sleep-deprived and irritable. Add in the fact that many teens, already battling their biology's natural inclination to stay up late, are waking up to yet another hour of lost sleep, and you’ve got a perfect storm for frustration.

This isn’t just about feeling tired. Research shows that sleep disruption influences mood and decision-making. In fact, people are less generous, make worse investments, and even federal judges hand down harsher sentences the Monday after daylight saving. It’s not just sleep that suffers; it’s our entire sense of reality.

So how do we cope? Experts recommend embracing the sun like it's your new best friend. Getting outside into natural light first thing in the morning is key. Try to exercise and stick to a healthy sleep routine, avoiding the afternoon caffeine and that temptation to "relax" with a late-night drink. It’s all about resetting the internal clocks, and yes, it takes time—but within a week or two, we should be back to some semblance of normalcy.

But until then, we soldier on. Because, like it or not, daylight saving time isn't going anywhere. We may as well try to make peace with it, even as our inner clocks scream for mercy.