Those of us in the United States tried to remember what happens to the clock with daylight savings time using the phrase “spring forward and fall back.” In California daylight savings time has been accompanied by a week of the sunniest weather in a couple of months.
For whatever reason, in our practice at Gateway Psychiatric there has been a sudden uptick in the number of bipolar patients reporting hypomanic symptoms.
Circadian rhythm dysregulation is a common reason for mood disruption in people with bipolar and a change in the clock, even though it is only an hour, may be the cause for disrupted daily routines.
Several of our patients report that they have been having trouble getting to bed at the usual time.
Moodsurfing has written a lot about mood disruption associated with the fall time change, which is multifactorial, as it seems to occur most severely when the time change is connected with a change in weather.
It’s worth recalling that the vernal and autumnal equinoxes are also the time when the amount of daylight is changing the most rapidly.
So this is a good time to papered particular attention to daily routines. Make sure that you are going to sleep and waking up at the usual time. It might be good time to review some information on this site about daily routines.