The extra hour

Hi, it's Nora.

Wednesday was about the people you've been meaning to call. Today is Halloween, which means candy, costumes, and a small toddler who will be vibrating with sugar by six p.m. It's also the night before something I've come to think of as the most underrated day of the year.

Tonight, at two a.m., the clocks go back. Tomorrow, Sunday November the first, is twenty five hours long.

Most people spend that extra hour asleep, which is fine, and then spend the following week feeling slightly off, which is less fine. The end of daylight saving time is a small jolt to your body clock, and it arrives right as the evenings get dark at five p.m. and the holiday rush starts.

But it's also a rare thing: a genuine reset button, built into the calendar, that almost nobody uses on purpose. So this issue is about using it. The extra hour, and the whole week after it, as a small turning point into the darkest, busiest stretch of the year.

Quickly, because it helps to know what you're working with.

When the clocks go back, your body clock stays where it was for a few days. So at nine p.m. on the new time, your body thinks it's ten. You'll get sleepy earlier. You'll wake up earlier. For most adults, the shift settles within a few days. For small children, who are notoriously literal about bedtime, it can take a week or more, and the first few mornings often start at five a.m. If you have kids under six, I'm sorry. Genuinely.

The bigger change is light. From Sunday, many of us will see the sun set before we finish work. For a lot of people, that's when autumn stops being pleasant and starts being a bit heavy. Less daylight affects mood, energy, and sleep, and it's easy to slide into a winter of feeling a little flat without quite noticing why.

The good news is that a few small adjustments, made this week, make a real difference.

If you have small children, the smoothest approach is to not fight the change on Sunday, but to meet it halfway.

Tonight, after the trick or treating, put them to bed at their usual time. They'll wake on Sunday an hour "early" by the new clock. On Sunday night, put them down about thirty minutes later than their normal bedtime on the new clock. By Tuesday or Wednesday, move to their normal time.

Some parents start shifting bedtime by fifteen minutes a night a few days ahead. That works too, if you remember. The honest version is that most of us are dealing with Halloween sugar tonight anyway, so aim for good enough, and expect a rough Monday.

Blackout blinds help a lot. So does keeping the mornings dim for the first few days, so that an early wake up doesn't immediately become "it's morning, let's play."

Here's my suggestion for the extra hour. Don't sleep through it. Or rather, sleep a bit, but take thirty to sixty minutes of it back and spend it on one thing that will make the next two months easier.

Some ideas, and you only need one:

The winter weekly review. A slightly longer version of the weekly review, looking at the whole of November and December rather than just the week ahead. What's coming? What needs deciding? What can go?

The holiday session. If you didn't get to the hour long planning session from Wednesday before last, this is the perfect time for it. Coffee, a calendar, and the gift list.

The house reset. One hour, one area. The coat closet, now that it's actually coat season. The kitchen drawer everything goes into. The garage, so the car fits in before it gets cold. There's something very satisfying about starting winter with one corner of the house in order.

Nothing at all. Honestly. A long, slow breakfast. A walk in the morning light. Sitting with a coffee and the book from last Saturday. An unscheduled hour, on a Sunday, is a small luxury, and you've earned it. As I said back in September, doing nothing on purpose is a skill. Tomorrow is a perfect time to practice.

Whatever you pick, pick it tonight, before bed. Otherwise the hour will be gone by ten a.m. and you won't be sure where it went.

Now the part that matters for the next four months. From Monday, daylight becomes something you have to go and get, rather than something that just happens.

Get outside in the morning. Even ten or fifteen minutes of daylight early in the day helps set your body clock, and it's one of the most reliable ways to feel more awake and sleep better at night. On a cloudy morning, outdoor light is still far brighter than indoor lighting. A short walk before work, walking the kids to school, coffee on the porch. Whatever gets you outside.

Move lunch outdoors. If your commute is in the dark both ways now, lunch is your daylight. Take ten minutes of it outside, even in a coat.

Brighten the mornings indoors. Turn on the lights as soon as you're up. Open all the curtains. Work near a window if you can. Some people find a daylight lamp helpful for the darker months, and if you've noticed a real dip in mood every winter, it's worth talking to your doctor about, because that pattern is common and there are good ways to help.

Dim the evenings. The flip side of bright mornings is darker evenings. As bedtime approaches, lower the lights, lamps instead of overhead. It tells your body it's night, which helps sleep, and it makes the dark evenings feel cozy rather than gloomy.

When it gets dark at five, a lot of people feel like the day is over at five, and they slide into the couch for the next five hours.

There's nothing wrong with a cozy evening. But if you've noticed that winter evenings leave you feeling sluggish and a bit low, it helps to put a small anchor in them.

Plan one thing for each weekday evening. Not a big thing. A call with a friend from the list you made on Wednesday. A bath. Twenty pages of a book. A short walk after dinner with a flashlight. A board game. It gives the evening a shape, so it isn't just a gap before bed.

Move exercise earlier, if you can. If you usually exercise after work, the dark and cold make it much harder to go. Try a morning slot or a lunch slot for the winter. It's a double win, because you'll also get daylight.

Keep the shutdown ritual. The closing time ritual from a couple of weeks ago is even more useful in winter, when work and evening blur together in the dark. Close the laptop, say the words, turn on the lamps.

The week after the change is also a good time to look at sleep in general, because your body is already adjusting and small changes stick more easily.

Keep the wake time steady. If you only change one thing, make it this. Getting up at the same time every day, weekends included, does more for your sleep than almost anything you do at bedtime. It anchors the whole system.

Watch the afternoon coffee. Caffeine stays in the body for hours. A three p.m. latte can still be affecting you at bedtime. If you've been sleeping badly, try a cutoff around noon for a week and see what changes.

Make the bedroom cool and dark. Most people sleep better in a slightly cool room. Now that it's getting colder, it's tempting to crank the heat up. Keep the bedroom a little cooler than the rest of the house.

Protect the last half hour. Screens off, lamps on, a book. The same twenty pages from last week's issue, doing double duty.

If you'd like one exercise for this weekend, try this. It takes ten minutes, and you can do it in the extra hour.

On one page, write three short lists:

Things that make winter good for me. Soup, fires, long books, a particular walk, a movie night, seeing a particular friend. Write down everything you actually enjoy about the dark months.

Things that make winter hard for me. Dark mornings, feeling stuck inside, the holiday rush, missing sunshine. Be honest.

One thing I'll do about each hard thing. Not a resolution. A small, specific response. "Dark mornings: walk around the block before work." "Stuck inside: one outdoor thing every weekend, whatever the weather."

Stick it on the fridge. Look at it in December. It's a small way of choosing your winter rather than just enduring it.

Tonight: enjoy Halloween, put the kids to bed at their usual time, and decide what you'll do with the extra hour.

Tomorrow: spend it on purpose.

Monday: go outside in the morning, even for ten minutes.

That's all. Winter's coming either way. You might as well meet it with a plan and a lamp.

Back Wednesday, when we're into November, and I want to talk about the last two months of the year and why they're the best time to build the habits you'll want in January.

Better, not busier.

Nora Bishop

P.S. Every one of this month's issues comes back to the same idea: decide once, calmly, instead of every day in a rush. That idea sits under all twenty one systems in Better, Not Busier, the free guide. If you've been meaning to read it, the extra hour is a good time.

P.P.S. Something new starts next Sunday. Twice a month I'll send The Short List: one book, one podcast, one song, one thing worth buying, and one small tool, each with a couple of lines on why it made my life a little better. Short, useful, and easy to read with a coffee. The first one lands on Sunday, November the eighth.