After long winters, many of us can’t wait for Spring. Longer days. Shorter nights. Warmer temperatures. Yet, others suffer from allergies and feel fatigued. Even after adjusting for Daylight Savings Time with the clock going forward one hour, there are four factors which may be causing us to get less sleep than we want.

• Singing birds at dawn causing us to wake up.
• Light seeping into our bedrooms causing us to wake up.
• Allergy symptoms causing us to wake up.
• Effects of allergy medications causing us to wake up.

What should you do?

1. Find the nest and get rid of the birds.
2. Switch bedrooms if you can.
3. Try earplugs.
4. Get really dark curtains that block out all of the light.
5. Wear eyeshades.
6. Sleep away from the window if you can.
7. Try to take a longer lasting allergy medication so that the symptoms don’t wake you up as early.
8. Try to take an allergy medication with side effects that do not disrupt your sleep.

Sleep Tip #114: Lock out the singing of birds and light during the Spring to stay asleep.