If You Read This Sleep Tip Tomorrow, It’ll Be Too Late

Apartment Therapy Weekend Projects is a guided program designed to help you get the happy, healthy home you’ve always wanted, one weekend at a time. Sign up now for email updates so you never miss a lesson.

If you enjoy arguing online about seemingly unchangeable things, wait until the social media moaning and groaning about Daylight Saving Time starts pouring in. (And yes, it’s “Saving” without the “s.”) We “spring forward” this Sunday, March 8 at 2 a.m.

Not that the difficulty is invalid—it takes some adjusting to recover from an hour of lost sleep and productivity. But here’s the thing: Even if the petitions to end time changes never take off in your state, you don’t have to be a passive victim of how They decide things will be.

This weekend, we’re going to take matters into our own hands so that the lost hour doesn’t catch us unawares.

This weekend, before we officially spring forward on Sunday, March 8, choose one clock to set an hour ahead. This way, you’ll get an extra night (and morning) to ease yourself into your new schedule gradually and, hopefully, more gracefully.

Today, pick a clock to gently guide you into what your Daylight Saving Time days will look like by showing the new time before it actually takes effect. Choose one that is visible but won’t be too confusing. An oven or microwave clock, for instance, is one you’ll probably see throughout your day, but it won’t cause you to show up early for an appointment like changing your phone clock might. Use the new time to adjust your sleep schedule; if you usually head to bed at 11, follow the “11” on your faux time clock so your body gets a head start at adjusting before the inevitably sluggish first Monday morning.

One last thing that may help get you in a good mood about the time change: the payoff of longer daylight hours! Think of what you’ll do with them. Will you take an evening stroll before bedtime? Savor the hush of the darker mornings?

Hour less of sleep or not, time changes aren’t all bad.

You can catch up with weekend projects right here. Share your progress with us and others by posting updates and photos on Instagram and Twitter with the hashtag #atweekendproject.

Remember: This is about improvement, not perfection. Each week you can either choose to work on the assignment we’ve sent you, or tackle another project you’ve been meaning to get to. It’s also completely okay to skip a weekend if you’re busy or not feeling the assignment.