As the rays of sunlight beam through the curtains in the early morning of March 8, the shift from Standard Time to Daylight Saving Time is welcomed for another year.
For many, it’s an expected and welcome change, allowing more sunlight during the upcoming summer months, but for others, it’s a time that brings disruption and confusion to their established schedules and body rhythms.
Individuals with memory loss, such as those with dementia or Alzheimer’s patients, are a vulnerable population for this time shift. With clocks springing forward, it brings about a need for additional preparation for altering routines and settling into new patterns.
Changing routines
Structure plays a big factor in treatment plans for dementia and Alzheimer’s patients. Brown University Health shares that routines allow the brain something to expect and rely on – consistent waking-up and sleeping times, hygiene, meal times and activities such as TV watching times or evening exercise.
As new information becomes harder to process – and new memories harder to form – consistency is key for those with dementia. Unfortunately, a few factors are working against a consistent daily routine, including sundown syndrome.
An estimated 20 percent of individuals with Alzheimer’s experience sundown syndrome, or sundowning – a myriad of symptoms correlated with changes in light as the sun sets.
Sundowning can result in increased confusion and disorientation, including mixed-up internal body clocks and potentially experiencing or misinterpreting hallucinations from cast shadows or dreams.
Further, many experience increased mental and physical exhaustion from a day’s activities and heightened sensitivity to others’ stress and frustration.
Adjusting light exposure can help with this, as light aids the body’s natural circadian rhythm throughout the day, and consistency helps establish patterns and build normalcy with daily patterns. And, though this cycle is disrupted by the time change twice a year, it can be modified to help during those times.
Forward thinking
With the one-hour spring forward approaching, the trick to changing routines is complementing activities to the available daylight hours.
According to the Alzheimer's Association, a consistent schedule is the first step. Maintaining the order of activities, as well as similar durations, helps with familiarity even though it’s a different time on the clock.
Throughout the day, aligning with the natural circadian rhythm, when possible, also helps mitigate the effects of the time change – whether that is limiting daytime or unplanned napping, or using blackout curtains to control light exposure at times convenient for waking up and sleeping.
The time change can be a triggering time, so utilizing soothing activities such as watching a favorite movie or listening to calming white noise or music and minimizing exposure to triggers and loud, overstimulating environments can help create calm.
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Where Daylight Saving Time Stands Today
As Daylight Saving Time approaches 85 years since it was fully established in the United States, states continue to take varying stances on Daylight Saving Time (DST). Under the amended Uniform Time Act, states can be exempt from observing DST, as seen in Hawaii and most of Arizona, as well as U.S. territories including American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
However, the reverse is not true, as states that choose to observe Daylight Saving Time are only permitted to do so during the mandated time period. A 2025 report from the National Conference of State Legislatures shares that 19 states have enacted legislation to support year-round Daylight Saving Time, if Congress enables the change, with Ohio among the states in progress of passing such legislation.
Though observing Daylight Saving Time year-round would bring an added benefit of increased sunlight exposure, such a change may also lead to disruption to the natural circadian rhythm with the sun – requiring more precision in aligning routines for maximizing sleep.
Other tips for fall back on Sun., Nov. 1:
- Shift schedule an hour earlier with the fallback
- Limit sugar and caffeine intake to the morning and/or early afternoon
- Enjoy the daylight and schedule activities, from trips and appointments, in the morning or early afternoon, and avoid stimulation such as television, chores and loud music in the evening
- With meal times, eat a larger lunch and a smaller dinner to allow more time for bodies to process the food and minimize disruption to sleep
- Keep steady lights throughout the home to prepare for and distract from changes in light and start slowly decreasing lighting leading up to the adjusted bedtime
- Engage in soothing activities to distract from light changes and earlier darkness
Jane Dimel is an assistant editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at jdimel@cityscenemediagroup.com.
