How Long Does It Take to Adjust to the Time Change? About a Week After the Fall Back

by | Nov 2, 2026 | Infrared Sauna, New Orleans Wellness

Reviewed by NOLA Chill Team · Updated November 2, 2026 · 6045 Magazine St, New Orleans

Short answer: it takes about a week to adjust to the time change.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine’s 2016 health advisory says the effects of a clock change on sleep last about 5 to 7 days, and studies that tracked people’s sleep found the body clock adjusts more readily to the fall change than to the spring one.

With the sun setting by 5:13 pm this week, you can book a private infrared sauna after work at NOLA Chill, 6045 Magazine Street in Uptown New Orleans, open 7 days and until 7 pm on weekdays: 30 minutes is $30 on your own or $48 for two, and you pay after your visit.

The extra hour on Saturday night was smaller than it sounded. In a 2025 study of 11,780 adults in the UK who wore wrist trackers, sleep on the Sunday of the fall change was 33 minutes longer on average than on the Sunday before, not a full 60, and a 2013 review found that the workweek after the change brings a net loss of sleep, because each morning starts earlier by the body’s clock.

What the time change does to the body, and for how long

The measured effects of the fall change are mostly small and short, and the table shows each one with the study it comes from and how large that study was.

Effects of the fall time change, by what the research found
Effect What the research found
Sleep on the night of the change About 33 minutes more sleep on the Sunday, not a full hour, in 11,780 UK adults wearing wrist trackers (de Lange and others, 2025).
The week after A net loss of sleep across the week from five workdays of rising earlier by the body’s clock (Harrison, 2013 review), with effects on sleep lasting about 5 to 7 days (American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 2016).
Who feels it more In nine adults in Finland, the fall change was harder on morning types and the spring change on evening types, and people more affected by the seasons in general felt both changes more (Lahti and others, 2008).
Mood An 11 percent rise in hospital diagnoses of depression after the fall change in Denmark, fading over about 10 weeks, in 185,419 hospital contacts from 1995 to 2012 (Hansen and others, 2017).
The heart Heart attacks rose slightly after the spring change, but in the week after the fall change they matched comparison weeks, across seven studies of more than 115,000 people (Manfredini and others, 2019).
Walking and cycling Fatal crashes involving pedestrians and bicyclists rose 13 percent in the 5 weeks after the fall change, in US data from 2010 to 2019 (Woods and others, 2025).

Figures are from each study’s published abstract or the academy’s advisory, read on October 29, 2026; the links are under How we checked. Each one is a pattern across a group, not a forecast for any one person.

Why am I so tired after the time change?

You are tired because your body clock is still set to the old hour, so it tends to wake you about an hour early by the new clock while work and evenings keep you up until your usual bedtime. Sunrise moved an hour earlier on the clock too, to 6:15 am on Monday, November 2, in New Orleans, and light is the body’s strongest timing cue, by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine’s account. In a 2013 study of 14 university students in Italy who wore activity trackers, the students got up earlier and slept less in total in the week after the fall change, which is the same net loss of sleep the 2013 review describes.

The academy’s advice for the change still helps this week: keep the room dim until your usual wake time, then head outdoors for early morning light, which its October 2026 article says helps reset the body clock in the days after the change. Wake at the same time every day, weekends included, go easy on caffeine late in the day while your body adjusts, go to bed at your normal time, and get at least 7 hours of sleep, or 8 for teens. Its 2016 advisory also calls for particular caution with anything that needs full alertness for at least 7 days after a change. Our guide to preparing for daylight saving time has the same steps laid out day by day.

If you are still worn out after a couple of weeks, or tired most days whatever the season, that is worth raising with a doctor. The academy’s October 2026 article says most people adjust within a few days, and that anyone who regularly has trouble sleeping or feels tired during the day should talk to a doctor.

When it is more than the clock change

For most people the change means a few tired days, but a low mood that lasts deserves real attention.

The National Institute of Mental Health describes seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, as a type of depression with a seasonal pattern that comes back, and in most cases the symptoms start in the late fall or early winter and go away in the spring and summer. The Danish finding in the table shows a pattern in hospital records across many people, not that the clock change causes depression or what it will do for any one person.

If a low mood lasts, comes back every winter, or gets in the way of work, sleep or the people around you, talk with a doctor or a therapist. NIMH describes several treatments for SAD that a health care provider can talk through with you. If you are in crisis or thinking about suicide, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, which is free, confidential and open any time of day or night, and in a life-threatening emergency, call 911.

A sauna or NuCalm session is not a treatment for depression, seasonal affective disorder or sleep problems, and it does not replace care or any medicine you take.

Is daylight saving time bad, and should it be permanent?

Most of the groups that have weighed in want the twice-a-year switch to end, but they disagree about which time to keep, so this page sets out each side as of October 29, 2026 rather than taking one.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine backs permanent standard time. Its 2023 position statement, endorsed by 20 medical, scientific and civic organizations, says standard time lines up best with the body clock, and the academy notes that neither time gives more daylight than the other, since only the timing of light and dark changes. The academy also links the spring change to a higher risk of heart attack and stroke and to more traffic crashes in the first few days after it.

Louisiana went the other way in 2020 with Act 133, which would keep the state on daylight saving time all year if Congress allows it. In Congress, H.R. 139, the Sunshine Protection Act of 2025, which would make daylight saving time permanent, passed the House 308 to 117 on July 14, 2026, and the next day went to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, where the congress.gov record shows no further action as of October 29, 2026. A second bill, H.R. 9638, the Sunshine for Our Kids Act of 2026, would make standard time permanent instead, and it has sat with the House Committee on Energy and Commerce since July 9, 2026.

In New Orleans, permanent daylight saving time would move the early January sunrise from 6:57 am to 7:57 am and sunset from about 5:15 pm to 6:15 pm, by the US Naval Observatory’s standard time figures for 6045 Magazine Street, so winter mornings would stay dark later while winter evenings would stay light later.

Public opinion has moved too. In a Gallup poll taken January 21 to 27, 2025, 54 percent of Americans said they were ready to do away with daylight saving time and 40 percent favored it. When a separate group was asked which they would prefer, 48 percent chose standard time all year, 24 percent daylight saving time all year and 19 percent the current switching, so about seven in ten wanted one time all year, though they split on which. Our page on when the clocks change in 2026 has New Orleans sunset times through March.

A warm half hour on the dark evenings

This first week of standard time, an appointment after work is an appointment after dark, and NOLA Chill stays open until 7 pm on weekdays.

The private infrared sauna room at NOLA Chill, 6045 Magazine Street in Uptown New Orleans, holds one to four people and is set to about 175 F (80 C), with the room air usually in the 150s and a lower setting on request. If it is raining, you can hear the rain on the roof from inside the sauna room with the music off or low, and in a hard rain it is loud.

Neither the sauna nor NuCalm is a treatment or a sleep aid, and we found no study of either as a way to adjust to the time change faster. What they offer is a warm or quiet half hour on an evening that is already dark, and in a 2019 international online survey of 482 sauna users, relaxation and stress relief were among the main reasons people gave for going. The people in that survey chose to answer it, so it shows why sauna users go, not what a sauna does for everyone.

Thirty minutes in the sauna is $30 for one person or $48 for two, with no membership needed, and you can pay after your visit. If you would rather skip the heat, NuCalm is a 30-minute guided audio and eye mask relaxation session for $40. For the dark months ahead, a 10-visit pack of 30-minute sauna sessions is $200, and one pack visit covers one or two people, so two friends sharing it pay $10 each a visit; packages can be shared or split and last 12 months. The Chill membership is $85 a month for 2 sessions, the 30-minute sauna among them, with 20% off anything extra.

Our sleep and stress reset with NuCalm and the sauna covers how the two fit together, the cold or rainy day sauna guide covers what a visit is like, the infrared sauna page has the room details, and every price is on the pricing page.

NOLA Chill is open 7 days: Mon to Fri 9am to 7pm, Sat 9am to 4pm, Sun 10am to 3pm, with off-street parking.

What is not known

Most of what is known about the time change comes from studies that find links, not causes.

The Danish mood figures and the crash figures are patterns across large groups of people, and they cannot say what the change will do for any one person, while the finding about who feels it more comes from just nine adults. We also found no trial that tested ways to adjust faster after the fall change, so the steps on this page are the sleep academy’s expert advice rather than a tested program.

Who should skip the sauna or ask first

Heat is not right for everyone. Skip the sauna, or check with your healthcare professional first, if any of these apply to you, and step out early if you feel dizzy or unwell.

  • A fever or an active illness. Our page on using a sauna when you are sick covers when to wait.
  • Pregnancy.
  • High blood pressure that is not under control, or unstable heart disease.
  • After drinking alcohol, or when you are dehydrated.
  • Heat sensitivity, such as with multiple sclerosis.
  • Medicines that change sweating, blood pressure or heart rate. A pharmacist can tell you whether yours do.
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More for the time change and the dark weeks

How we checked

The 5 to 7 day figure and the advice to take care for 7 days are from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine’s 2016 health advisory; the sleep tips are from its daylight saving time page and its October 12, 2026 article, and the academy’s position and the 20 endorsements are from its 2023 position statement. Sunrise and sunset times are the US Naval Observatory’s standard time figures for 6045 Magazine Street. The state law is from the Louisiana Legislature, the two bills and the House vote are from congress.gov and the House Clerk, the poll is Gallup’s, what SAD is comes from the National Institute of Mental Health, and the sleep, mood, heart, crash and survey figures are from the studies below. We read each source on October 29, 2026.

Frequently asked questions

Why am I so tired after the time change?

Your body clock is still on the old hour, so it wakes you early by the new clock while you still go to bed at your usual time. A 2013 review found that the five workdays after the fall change add up to a net loss of sleep across the week, even with the extra hour on Saturday night.

How long does it take your body to adjust to the time change?

About a week. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine says the effects of a clock change on sleep last about 5 to 7 days, and studies find the body clock adjusts more readily to the fall change than to the spring one.

Does the time change affect your body?

In small, short-lived ways for most people. Studies that tracked sleep found about 33 minutes of extra sleep on the Sunday of the fall change and a net loss of sleep over the week after, a 2019 analysis of seven studies found no rise in heart attacks in the week after the fall change, and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine says the effects on sleep last about 5 to 7 days.

Is daylight saving time bad for you?

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine links the spring switch to daylight saving time with a higher risk of heart attack and stroke and more traffic crashes in the first few days, and it backs permanent standard time. In a 2019 analysis of seven studies, heart attacks did not rise in the week after the fall change.

Can the time change affect your mood?

It may for some people. A Danish registry study of 185,419 hospital contacts found an 11 percent rise in hospital diagnoses of depression after the fall change, fading over about 10 weeks. If a low mood lasts or gets in the way of daily life, talk with a doctor or a therapist, and anyone in crisis can call or text 988.

Will daylight saving time be permanent in 2026?

Not as of October 29, 2026. H.R. 139, the Sunshine Protection Act of 2025, passed the House 308 to 117 on July 14, 2026, and has been with the Senate Commerce Committee since July 15 with no further action on the record, so the clocks change as usual, next on Sunday, March 14, 2027.

Does Louisiana change the clocks?

Yes. Louisiana went back one hour at 2 am on Sunday, November 1, 2026, with most of the country. Its 2020 law, Act 133, would keep the state on daylight saving time all year only if Congress allows it, which has not happened.

NOLA Chill is a wellness studio at 6045 Magazine Street in New Orleans, not a medical clinic, and a sauna or NuCalm session is not a treatment for depression, sleep problems or any other condition.

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