On the first Sunday of October, clocks in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT spring forward an hour, and this year that means 4 October. Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory sit the ritual out, but plenty of over-60s in those states feel it anyway through interstate family calls, television schedules and travel. Losing an hour sounds trivial. For many older sleepers it is anything but, and a little preparation makes the transition far kinder.
Why one hour hits harder after 60
Our internal body clock, the circadian rhythm, naturally becomes a little less flexible with age. Research suggests that older adults often experience lighter, more fragmented sleep and find schedule changes harder to absorb than younger people do. Shifting the clock forward asks you to fall asleep an hour before your body expects to, which is precisely the direction older body clocks resist most. If the week after the change usually leaves you groggy and out of sorts, you are not imagining it, and you are certainly not alone.
Ease in rather than leaping
The gentlest approach is to make the change gradually. In the three or four nights before Sunday 4 October, shift your bedtime and wake time earlier by 15 to 20 minutes a night, and move meals and evening routines with them. By the time the clocks jump, your body has already covered most of the distance in small, comfortable steps. If you take regular medications at set times, ask your pharmacist or GP whether the timing matters and how best to adjust it; for most people it is straightforward, but it is a better question asked than assumed.
Recruit the morning light
Light is the strongest signal your body clock receives, and morning light is the lever that shifts it earlier. In the first week after the change, get outside within an hour or so of waking, even for ten minutes with a cup of tea on the porch. A morning walk does double duty, pairing light with gentle movement. In the evening, do the opposite: dim the lights, and give screens away for the last hour before bed, since bright light late in the day nudges your body clock the wrong way just when you are trying to coax it forward.
Keep your wind-down steady
When the clock changes, routine is your anchor. Keep the same sequence each evening, whatever yours is: a light supper, a shower, a few pages of a book, bed. Familiar cues tell the body that sleep is next, even when the numbers on the clock disagree. Go easy on caffeine after lunch and on alcohol in the evening, as both can fragment sleep that is already adjusting. And if you wake at what your body insists is the old time, resist the urge to check the clock and start the day; rest quietly, and let the rhythm settle over a week or so.
If sleep still will not settle
Most people find their feet within a week or two of the change. If your sleep remains poor well beyond that, or if poor sleep is your companion in every season, it deserves proper attention rather than resignation. Loud snoring, long pauses in breathing overnight, restless legs or persistent early waking are all worth raising with your GP, as each has recognised approaches that may help. We have written before about when to see your GP about sleep, and the spring clock change is as good a prompt as any to finally have that conversation.
Daylight saving buys you golden evenings all summer long, and the price is one scrambled week in October. Pay it in instalments, spend your mornings in the light, and hold your routine steady. By the middle of the month the change will be behind you, and the long, bright evenings will be all yours.
Important Note
This article is general information only and is not a substitute for personal medical advice. Please speak with your GP or another qualified health professional about your own situation.