How Changing Time Zones Affected My Insomnia

I recently returned home after spending a week in a different time zone. This time zone was just 1 hour ahead of my own, so I did not expect it to have much of an effect on my sleep schedule. Here is how it affected me.

Feeling like it was past my bedtime

When I spent the first night in a new time zone, I felt like I was awake too late. That hour made a big difference at the end of the day. It felt like I was past my bedtime and I felt a bit of a panic to be in bed. Even though the clock said 11 PM, it was only 10 PM at home. I was not up late. It was just my bedtime.

There was something about the hour on the clock that made it seem like I needed to go to bed even earlier than my normal time. I did find myself going to bed earlier several nights. This was a change I wanted to keep when returning home, if at all possible.

Morning time changes make me grumpy

The mornings were much different. I still needed to get up at my normal time, only that time was now an hour earlier. I needed to be up at 8 AM to get where I needed to go most days, and that’s the time I try to get up when I am home. Unfortunately, 8 AM in the new time zone was 7 AM at home.

Even though I was getting up at what was currently my normal time, it was still an hour earlier due to the time change. I am not a morning person and this part of the change was unwanted and unwelcome. I started the days off grouchy and annoyed.

Could I adopt new change to my sleeping schedule?

After an entire week of going to bed earlier and getting up earlier, I was hoping to be able to either go to bed earlier or wake up earlier. I did not expect that I would be able to do both, but being able to do just one of those things would increase my productivity.

I ended up returning to my regular bedtime because it was a household routine. That left me hoping that I would be able to get up an hour earlier each morning without feeling like I was making a big change in my routine. I did not want to deal with excessive fatigue from a big change.

My schedule changed for the worse

Instead of being able to get up earlier, I found it harder and harder to get out of bed in the mornings. In fact, I ended up sleeping later and later until I started sleeping an hour later than what had been my routine. I feel like I lost out all the way around.

Sleeping an extra hour in the morning is going in the opposite direction of what I wanted. I sincerely hoped the time change would help me adapt to a new schedule, but it seems to have made things worse.

Time zones and time changes are frustrating

Perhaps the issue is exacerbated by the daylight saving time change. Time has fallen back an hour. Daylight hours are changing, and maybe that change is affecting my sleeping pattern. Maybe now that the time has fallen back I will fall back into waking around the desired time again. This is what I am hoping will happen, but the recent effect of time changes made things worse.

Have you ever had a change in sleeping patterns due to changing time zones or daylight saving time changes? I would love to hear about your experience and how you adjusted to the changes.