Daylight Savings Time

I’m all for more sunlight during daytime hours, however; daylight savings can really mess with you, especially when we spring ahead and lose a whole hour of sleep. Most of us are probably dragging our feet a bit today. It’s amazing how losing one little hour can really throw you off. For some of us, particularly if you have children, the effects of losing this hour could last all week. Fatigue can cause a reduction is reaction time, performance, and the ability to make sound decisions, thereby, increasing the chances of an incident to occur. So even though it seems like one measly hour, it can have serious effects. Here are a few things you can do to make it through the day and the week, if needed.

Try and eat healthy regular meals and snacks. At coffee break, maybe forgo the cigarette and donut for a healthy snack and water. Try and avoid heavy and fatty foods, they will just weigh you down more. Eating every 3-4 hours will help keep you moving. Speaking of moving, you need to do just that. If you have to go for a 5 minute walk to get blood flowing again, then do it. Maybe this is the time to head to the tool crib or wash cart. I know this sounds crazy but…try and avoid caffeine, yes coffee. I know you’re thinking that if you’re tired you should pound coffee all day, however; when the effects of coffee wear off, you will be even more exhausted than initially. If you can, try and get to bed a little earlier til you feel more alert.

For some of you, daylight savings time doesn’t affect you at all (lucky!) and some of us, especially the ones who have kids that fight this time change thing to the bitter, bitter end, either way, we all get sleepy at work sometimes. These tips are good for everyday.  Just remember the more alert you are the less likely you are to cause an injury or to be injured.