Hi there. I am barely here. It is the first day of daylight savings. Funny enough, the only kind of daylight we’ve been having lately is gloomy overcast daylight. I am aware that daylight savings is harmful. It should be abolished not only for our circaidian rhythms, but also that fact that it is modern life and we don’t need it. I’ve doing my scholary research of googling to find the answer to my question-does this mean that NOW is the better time and we should keep it permanent or should we move it one last time in fall and then that time should be permanent?
From what I am seeing, it seems that Standard Time is the one that sleep experts are recommending. This is because it is better to prioritize more sun in the morning as opposed to the evening. You will off set your body producing melationin by having more sunlight in the evening. It is also better to have more sunlight in the morning to wakeup yourself up and to have your cortisol spike earlier in the day. The later in the day that you have your cortisol spike, the more likely it is to disrupt your sleep patterns. So, unfortunately, we should change the clock back one more hour this fall and keep it permanent.
I know, it sucks to have it dark at 5pm when you get off of work. And those long, summer nights. However, it is better for us in the long run. I overall agree that it is important to abolish this whole DST because hello??? We live in a modern world??? It don’t mean shit if it’s darker later because we have electricity and glued to screens anyway that keep us nice and stimulated.
Speaking of devil screens, this leads me to me next topic/update. I have been trying to limit my time on social media and my overall experience with it. This includes screen time timers, unfollowing accounts and hiding people’s stories fromy my feed (this last one is controversial to me-I’m a big believer in “just completely unfollow them”). Unfollowing accounts and hiding people’s stories has been a great help. It has definetly reduced my stress levels and it is helping me accomplish my yearly theme of “mindin my business”. Screen time timers have also made me see how many benefits there are to having no/little exposure to social media (side note- the social media app that is my biggest problem is Instragram. However, Facebook and Tik Tok technically fall under here for me). My sleep and self esteem are significantly better, I am able to focus more during the day, I am able to engage and actually do other hobbies that I want to do. However, I have been unsucessful at keeping this habit and it does not seem possible to transition into a consistent habit…yet.
So, where’s the bridge? Today, I am starting “Social Media Fasting”. God damnit that sounds sooo LA. Anyway.“Social Media Fasting” is exactly what it sounds like-consuming social media only during a selected time slot each day. I restarted intermitted fasting again in Decemberish..? for a few reasons that I won’t get too sidetracked into in this post. Anyway, it took me about a week or so to get back into it and now I’ve kept up with tha habit for 4ish months now without a problem and been receiving those benefits I was desiring. Small side note: I eat from 12-8 each day, fast for 16 hours.
Now, I don’t think IF is exactly black-magic-fuckery or “life changing”. I think IF is simply the “model” to something much bigger or something that I’ve learned from it. It has been working for me very well because I have been approaching fasting in a healthy way of how to realistically to add a habit into your life. I have let go of concrete thinking. Sometimes I eat at 1pm, even 11pm. Sometimes I stop eating at 6pm or 9pm. And this is the longest I’ve been able to keep up with a habit since Pre-COVID days. And now, this is where “Social Media Fasting” came up as an idea. I’m also revisiting my other habits I want to address such as a basic morning and night routine. Not looking for perfection, just consistency.
God damn I am feeling loopy and stoopid this moring from the time change so this blog is a little everywhere lol but oh well
Kindly, Kat