Wife: <yawn> I am really super tired this morning.
Me: Hrmm. (While driving and Twittering on the phone at the same time...an activity I don't recommend)
Wife: I said I am really super tired this morning.
Me: (Putting the phone down and concentrating on the road before I plunge the three of us into a fiery death) Why is that?
Wife: Well the clock says that it is 7:00, but the internal clock in my body is telling me it is really 6:00.
Me: (Pausing to digest the comment) That's crazy.
Wife: No its not actually. It takes the body several days to adjust to the change of time when daylight savings time occurs. I saw it on Oprah once.
The phone beeps. I pick it up, new Twitters coming in. Swerve to miss the car in front of me that was driving too slow. Heart rate increases. Put the phone back down, resolving not to pick it up again while behind the wheel.
Me: (slightly out of breath from my racing heart) That's silly. The clock said 10:00 when you fell asleep (You read correctly...10:00...I know, right?) and 5:30 when you woke up...as always.
Wife: Yeah but that was really going to sleep at 9:00 and getting up at 4:30.
Me: (Pausing once again while i try to get my head around this thought) But...it's still the same amount of time.
Wife: No...its not...its an hour earlier.
Me: But...its still the same amount of time.
At this point Caroline, sitting in the booster seat in the back, breaks out in a rousing chorus of Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds. I can't make this stuff up. Not sure if it borders on broadening my daughter's horizons or bad parenting...but it is the truth.
Me: Sweety, please sing a song that is not about mind altering drugs...we will be at preschool soon. (REALLY don't want that call)
Caroline ignores me and continues her Beatles tribute. I guess there are worse things...
Wife: It is not the same because my body...Caroline sweety...it's diamonds, not bibles...because my body is used to the time the way it was, not the way it now is.
Me: (At this point feeling like I have taken LSD myself) WHAT? Whatever time the clock tells you, that is what time it IS. I went to sleep at 12:18...got up at 6:05...that six hours felt like the six hours all the weeks before it. I don't understand this metaphysical trickery you are talking about.
Caroline: Mommy...why does Lucy like diamonds? Are they like the diamonds you have on your ring?
Wife: Yes sweety...Lucy just likes expensive jewlery. Brian, I really think more people would agree with me on this than they would with you.
Me: No way...maybe it is a male/female thing. Most guys I know don't walk around whining about their "internal clocks" being messed up because of daylight savings time.
Wife: That's because most men aren't smart enough to read their internal clocks. Trust me...all normal people struggle with this when the time changes.
Caroline: Lucy in the sky with bibles...Lucy in the sky with bibles...
As you can see...our morning commutes are quite interesting.
I would like to pose our morning's debate question to my 6 blog readers out there. Which side of the fence do you live on?
Are you in my camp where the clock says what it says and you don't need to rely on tricky, mind/time bending excuses for why your body feels off?
Or are you in my wife's camp, where your "internal clock" takes days or weeks to reset because it is now confused. (No wonder women can't program VCRs)
If you feel so inclined...drop me your opinion (along with any other comments or backyard BBQ recipes) in the comments section here.
And, if you feel further inclined, subscribe to the feed here at the Hideaway. I LOVE my 6 readers...but there is always room for more!
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I just try to go to bed an hour early on Daylight Savings Time since I know I'll miss an hour. I tend to adjust immediately then.
ReplyDeleteWhen I get home, hopefully I'll remember to put a link up to your blog.
Although I was incorrectly quoted SEVERAL times, it still made me laugh as always. GO MY SIDE!!
ReplyDeleteim with her. and strangely, no matter which way we go (forward or back), it always seems to kick my butt everytime. i feel like it takes me at least a week to adjust!
ReplyDeleteSo I am going to count you in MY camp Nick. I knew I could count on you...
ReplyDeleteBe careful Heather.
ReplyDeleteLibel is SUCH an ugly word...
Well I was tired, but that's because I went to sleep standard time and got up having to use daylight savings. If the clocks changed on a Saturday, wouldn't be a problem! However, past the first day - it is the SAME amount of sleep, was only tired the first day because I DIDN'T get the same amount.
ReplyDeleteSorry Heather, i'm with Brian on this one. It really only affects you the first night when you lose an hour, other than that you are still sleeping the same amount. :)
ReplyDeleteCaroline is so cute! I would have loved to have seen that. Tell her I say hi please :D
Im tired all the time so internal clock has nothing to do with it. maybe if we lost 2 hours?
ReplyDeleteThe time is what the time is, period. 'Internal clock'? What would she do if she had a job that required her to travel? Would she constantly telling her boss " Sorry my internal clock is off?"
ReplyDeleteIt pains me a little to have to agree with Brian, but so be it, hopefully this will be one of the few times. It takes me zero time to adjust.
ReplyDeleteI felt no difference. Its just sleeping one hour less for one nite
ReplyDeleteWell I was in Cali when the time change rolled around and since they are behind Calgary an hour I was getting up exactly when I would have normally if I were home.....but since I missed my plane out of Cali and then had to catch a later plane which then had mechanical problems so had to wait for another plane which required rearrangement of seating assignments which NO ONE can seem to accomplish at midnight I arrived back home at 3 am which at that time I had to watch my husband try and figure out how to set the alarm clock for the next half hour before he would turn the lights out and seeing as he's a perky morning person he cannot leave at 6:30am without waking everyone to say goodbye.......I have to say that I am feeling it a bit today.
ReplyDeleteOh, btw I can program a VCR.
My internal clock quit in anger part way through my first year of seminary, and told all it's friends to stay away from the job! I don't usually notice from a sleep standpoint, I just notice the change in the sun-up/sun-down times.
ReplyDeleteI loved Caroline's song, and your accompanying trepidations! Jen and I have a similar fear as our 4 year old sings, "Shot through the heart, and your to blame, you give love a bad name" on the way to church.
You're both right... Except I view DTS as crossing a time zone. It really does mess with you. I always adjust better to the time zone we just left. And it makes sense, because you're going back an hour. When I went to Hawaii, I had very little jet lag because they were hours behind us. But coming back to EST... OY!!! Yeah, I think it's the same thing.
ReplyDeleteI can't even explain how much I miss living with you guys!! You crack me up. I will say though that it's not so much the time change its more about when the sun comes up. For the past 2 or 3 weeks it's daylight when I wake up and all of a sudden blammmo, it's dark out at 6am again. I was all discombobulated this morning. Again, not due to time loss, I'm over that..sorry Heather, I love you mwah...but because it was dark again.
ReplyDeletei didn't mean to be anonymous...it's me Erin LOL
ReplyDeleteDaylight savings doesn't bother me - personally I tend to do better with less sleep than more. So if it's a female thing.....I guess I really am a Tomboy!
ReplyDeleteNope doesnt bother me. Wow! I am agreeing with Brian....um umum Duke Rocks!
ReplyDeleteEven back in 'the world' I swing from day shift to night shift every two weeks so an hour doesn't bother me at all.
ReplyDelete...besides, she gets that hour back in October so why complain?
I was pretty tired on Sunday, but that was because I accidentally turned on the alarm that goes off at 5:30AM instead of the one that goes off at 7:00AM, so it was my own fault.
ReplyDeleteI'll agree with the sun-up time in general, though... I'm usually running late by an average of an hour in the winter compared to my summer schedule. If I could get a set of those lights PennDOT uses for its nighttime construction projects and park it outside my bedroom window on a timer for 6AM, I'd have no troubles in the morning at all.
Hubby and I were totally screwed up on Sunday. The residual problem is that my body is programmed to go to SLEEP at 10pm, so going to bed at 10pm after the time change felt like 9pm and I couldn't fall asleep. I had to sleep in an extra hour this morning to make up for it.
ReplyDeleteInteresting note: my daughter went to bed at 7pm last night, as usual, but slept an extra hour this morning. She calls me "when the sun wakes up" and doesn't give a hoot what "time" it is.
Although I am very capable of setting a VCR (that was so 5 years ago...come to the era of DVR's), I agree with Heather. Your body has an internal clock that must be respected. Your body has the power to go on or shut down! I say, give special preference to the internal clock that is irreplaceable rather than the external clock that can be replaced! ...and no, I am not quoting Beyonce!
ReplyDeleteSince I am too lazy to set up an account...my post will be anonymous...Jayna
It messes me up for a day or so. I have to agree with Heather, mentally 6 hours is not the same when you have to get up in the morning. If I go to bed at 4 A.M. and get up at 10 I am fine, but go to bed at midnight and get up at 6 when it is still dark out, that is tiring.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I am very capable of setting a VCR (that was so 5 years ago...come to the era of DVR's), I agree with Heather. Your body has an internal clock that must be respected. Your body has the power to go on or shut down! I say, give special preference to the internal clock that is irreplaceable rather than the external clock that can be replaced! ...and no, I am not quoting Beyonce!
ReplyDeleteBri- I have had one hell of a Monday (as you have read about on my two posts) but reading your blog had me LOL! THANK YOU!! I needed that. :)
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with H on this one. It does take me a day or two to adjust to the new time change.
OK, so you have no clue who I am...I'm a friend of Erin's. I had to peek at your blog...hilarious. First of all, I'll put my two cents in...even though I wasn't asked for them! lol. Springing forward has no effect on me...its falling back that messes with my...yep, you guess it...my internal clock. I would also love to comment on your daughter's excellent taste of music! You've started her young my friends...kudos to you.
ReplyDeleteactually, i agree with both of you. I understand that 6 hours is 6 hours no matter what week or season we are in, however; there is an internal clock that gets disrupted with the time change. Take me for example, i was Wii-ing along doing afternoon yoga, alex outside playing and delaying dinner. I sent him a text saying he better come home soon, he has scouts in an hour...it was 7pm! he has scouts at 7pm! Since it was light out, my clock told me it was not even close to being that late. I was so surprised and I had to quickly scoot him to scouts. I am sure I am not the only one who was off by the late evening sun or the early morning haze.
ReplyDeleteI loved reading this and have to agree with your wife! I think I commented on fb that I am glad to be currently living in a country where they don't do daylight savings time!:) It takes me awhile and the kids to adjust. Love how/what your daughter was singing! Hilarious!
ReplyDeleteI am not so suer about the whole 'internal clock' thingy but I do know that I hate getting up in the 'dark' and so with it being darker in the am, it is tougher for me to get up. I am much more awake when I can open my eyes and it is light out rather than pitch black.
ReplyDeleteI have been examining myself greatly now though since I've found out I agree with Brian on something. What a great cataclysm!
ReplyDeleteAnd Brian, we need to get "Cruiser" here if we're going to talk about programming VCRs.
I totally agree with Heather. Everyone at work on Monday was dragging. You LOSE an hour of sleep. Can't get it back. It's gone, and you feel it. Sorry Jack.
ReplyDeleteBeryl...if you sleep the exact amount of hours, then you aren't losing any sleep.
ReplyDeleteHeather's Mom
ReplyDeleteI, of course, agree with Heather or she agrees with me. It is very hard to go to bed an hour earlier and wake up an hour earlier so your body is messed up for several days until you adjust. Now when you get up, it is dark and your body says you should still be asleep.
Also, I am glad to hear Caroline is more interested in Bibles than diamonds. You are raising her right!