Daylight savings time is no longer a breeze for actress Kaley Cuoco now that she has a 19-month-old daughter.
The 38-year-old played Penny on the “The Big Bang Theory” from 2007-2019, starred in the film “Meet Cute” and currently stars in the Peacock series “Based on a True Story.” She shares her daughter with fiancé and “Ozark” actor Tom Pelphrey, 42. She was previously married to Ryan Sweeting.
“I wish she would admit she’s tired,” Cuoco said in a video about her daughter, who was sitting in a highchair. ”Look at those yawns … Look at them! WHY ARE WE AWAKE?”
Common symptoms during and after a time change include fatigue, crankiness, and shorter attention spans.
Dr. Andrew Youssouf, a dual board-certified physician, recommends easing into a time change by adjusting bedtimes gradually.
“A few days before the switch, shift bedtimes and wake-up times by 10 to 15 minutes earlier,” Dr. Youssouf told The Epoch Times. “This helps the body gradually adapt. Exposure to natural light is also crucial.”
Youssouf, who is the medical director at Ikon Recovery in Saddle Brook, New Jersey, further advises adults to avoid screen time and caffeine before bed to help them fall asleep more easily.
“For kids, keeping a soothing bedtime routine, like bathing or reading, helps signal that it is time for sleep,” he said.
Putting clocks forward in the spring has been in practice since 1918 to make better use of daylight hours so that night falls at a later time during the summer.
The AASM further found that 63 percent of Americans would prefer to eliminate daylight saving time (DST), which President Woodrow Wilson enacted under the Standard Time Act to conserve energy during World War 1.
“Kaley Cuoco did the right thing by keeping her baby up until the normal clock time for a nap,” Christine Landis told The Epoch Times. “If her daughter’s nap wasn’t until 12 pm, then she should follow the clock time and feed her the snack at 11 a.m. even with the yawns.”
Landis, the mother of two, is the founder of Peacock Parent, a hiring service in San Diego.
She suggests hiring help on daylight savings day and even a few days after to give parents a reprieve for patience and energy.
“We can’t make the time magically go by faster until bedtime, but we can give ourselves as parents the compassion to know that this is hard - and that it’s okay to hire help or ask grandparents to come over for a few hours to give you and your partner a break,” Landis added.
A one-hour time change is the equivalent of a cross-country time change on a five-hour flight.
Most individuals require a few days or even weeks, in some cases, to fully adjust, according to Stephanie Fornaro, mother of two and founder of Hello, Nanny, a national childcare placement agency in Dallas, Texas.
“This shift can mess up their internal clocks, leading to fussiness, irritability, and trouble focusing, especially in toddlers who aren’t good at adjusting to sudden changes,” Fornaro told The Epoch Times.
Fornaro advises keeping vitamin D levels up during daylight saving time in places with less sunlight, such as Washington, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho.
“Parents in these states often use vitamin D supplements to help with the lack of sunlight, which can improve mood and energy levels,” she said. “Also, playing at the park or running around helps burn off energy and makes it easier to go to bed with the time change.”
“What are we doing here with the changing of clocks? Why are we doing this?” Murray joked. “This is a direct assault on parents of young children. It’s a well-known fact that when you have young children, hours in the day are measured in dog years. By 11 a.m., some of us would have already been awake with our children for 42 hours.”
Cuoco did not respond to requests for comment.
