Sleep expert's advice on what to do today to avoid struggling when ...

The clocks go forward once every year – but for some reason it always manages to catch us by surprise. This year it happens on Sunday, March 26, and in case you didn't know, this is the nasty one where we lose an hour of sleep.

Daylight Savings Time will start at 1am, which means when the clock strikes 1am – it will suddenly jump to 2am. This will likely mess up your internal body clock, and according to a sleep expert it might be "difficult" for the first few days.

That being said, there are some things you can do today to prepare for the change tomorrow, which will impact the way you sleep.

Sleep expert James Wilson, on behalf of BettingSites.co.uk, has said that by preparing ahead of time "you should be okay" once the change happens.

James, who is also known as The Sleep Geek, said the first thing you need to do it "accept there will be a change and some disturbance to our sleep".

The good thing is that it happens on a Sunday, which means a lot of people won't need to go to work on less sleep.

Another thing that can help you on the day before is lowering the heat and relax before you go to bed. James said: "You need to feel cooler to fall asleep, so you need to drop to a cold temperature. I would say firstly drop in heart rate and temperature, make sure that before you are sleepy, make sure that before bedtime, you are doing things that are relaxing."

If you can help it, you should avoid setting an alarm on Sunday, and let your body sleep the amount it needs. James added: "I would suggest that on Sunday morning, sleep at the time you want to sleep.

"If you normally fall asleep at 11pm, on Sunday night you might feel sleepy a bit later because what is usual 11pm now is 10pm. So you may not be quite ready for sleep and obviously, you're going to benefit later on Monday morning."

On Sunday and Monday morning, James recommends getting "lots of daylight" to "help reset the body clock". This also "helps your body understand that it is now morning".

He added: "And like I say, don't rush to bed and get lots of natural light early in the day and your body will start to adjust to it after a couple of days."

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