Today is the last day of Daylight Saving Time for 2018, and at 2:00 tomorrow morning, our clocks will reset to 1:00.  Unless, that is, you live in one of the jurisdictions that has shunned the outdated practice.  The modern wisdom of Daylight Saving Time is debatable.  It can have negative health consequences and is of questionable economic benefit.  But for most of us in the United States, changing our clocks twice a year is unavoidable, so we might as well try to use it to our advantage.

I wake up at 5:30 AM these days.  That early start goes against my chronotype — left entirely to my own devices, I’d probably get up around 8:00.  It is a real struggle to get out of bed when my alarm goes off.  But waking at 5:30 is the only way to accomplish everything that needs to happen before my workday begins at 8:30: brush teeth, wash face, do makeup and hair, feed cats, prep and eat breakfast, pack lunch and pumping supplies for work, pack bottles and cloth diapers for day care, pump, get dressed, get baby dressed and loaded into car, drive to day care, take baby into day care, unload his stuff, sign him in and get him settled, drive to work…phew!

I used to dedicate some time in the early mornings to do personal activities that I was trying to prioritize, like exercising, meditating, or writing, but I just can’t bring myself to wake up any earlier than I already am. “Falling back” represents an opportunity in that regard: I can technically get up at the same time my body is used to waking and I’ll have an extra hour each morning. I really enjoyed having some distraction-free time in the mornings to devote to personal goals, when it’s easier for me to focus, and I liked the feeling of having already accomplished something by the time I got to work. Practically speaking, mornings are really my best option for doing things like exercising or writing.  By the time the baby goes to bed at night, I’m pretty tired and useless both mentally and physically.

On the other hand, sleeping later would be really nice.  I think I’ll split the difference this year and start waking up at 5:00 on Monday.  I’ll use the extra time to workout in order to offset the decrease in evening walks that results from earlier sunsets and colder temperatures. I know myself well enough to know that this early morning workout schedule might only last a month or so before the pull of my warm bed becomes a little too hard to resist when the alarm goes off, but a month is better than nothing, and I’ll do my best to keep it up as long as I can.

Do you use the fall time change to do more in the early mornings, or do you adjust to the difference right away and just let yourself sleep later?

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