FRIDAY, Nov. 4, 2011 (HealthDay News) -- When the clocks go back an hour this weekend, some people may have trouble adjusting to the time change.
Many welcome the switch from daylight savings time to standard time because it means an extra hour of sleep on Sunday, but some will find it difficult to adapt, according to Girardin Jean-Louis, a sleep specialist and professor of medicine at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn.
Exposure to light at an earlier time in the morning may cause some people to wake up earlier than planned. This could cause increased daytime sleepiness that results in impaired mental and physical abilities, Jean-Louis explained.
Those most likely to experience problems with the switch to standard time are people who tend to wake early in the morning and are sleepy early in the evening (morning types).
The National Sleep Foundation offers some tips to help you adjust to this weekend's time change:
Here are some suggestions for parents from Dr. Gabrielle Gold-von Simson, a pediatrician at NYU Langone Medical Center and an assistant professor of pediatrics at the NYU School of Medicine in New York City:
More information
The U.S. Institute of General Medical Sciences has more about circadian rhythms.