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With time, perhaps the U.S. Congress will wake up to the reality that Daylight Saving Time is bad for personal sleep and public health and safety. For now, legislators are asleep at the wheel, just as many Americans might be after being forced to spring forward Sunday, March 12, potentially losing an hour of sleep.

The short sleep will have immediate and lasting negative effects.

“In a nation that is already sleep deprived, losing an extra hour can make a huge impact,” says Harneet Walia, MD, a sleep specialist with the Cleveland Clinic.

Just one night of insufficient sleep can significantly impair next-day memory, decision-making and mood. Some evidence suggests the bad effects can persist for a week or more beyond the initial switch. In a survey, 55% of Americans said they’ve felt somewhat or extremely tired after the spring forward.

The individual tolls add up to grim nationwide statistics. After the annual forward spring to Daylight Saving Time (DST):

• Auto accidents spike 6% for the first week.
• The number of heart attacks on the first Monday increases a whopping 25%.
• Worker productivity falls and workplace accidents rise.
• Giving to charitable organizations drops 10% in that first week, but only in states where the clocks change. Grumpy and less generous, are we?

Below, I lay out a plan to help you survive this arguably asinine and anachronistic leap ahead, a time warp with roots in World War I designed in part to save energy (though there’s no evidence it actually does). First, a bit about how politicians seem poised to leap backward on the issue.

Ain’t no sunshine…

Last week, a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators reintroduced the “Sunshine Protection Act” to make Daylight Saving Time (DST) permanent, and a companion bill was introduced in the House of Representatives. The Senate passed the same legislation this time last year but it stalled in the House when lawmakers couldn’t agree whether to kill Standard Time, as the bill would, or instead keep Standard Time and nix DST forever.

Since then, a growing coalition of scientists and sleep experts has made a strong case for getting rid of DST and putting the whole country permanently on Standard Time, as is already the case in Hawaii, most of Arizona, and the U.S. territories.

Some people might prefer DST given their work or other life schedules. That’s understandable, so none of the three possible options (one being to stick with the current twice-a-year time switch) are necessarily ideal for every individual.

But throughout the year, Standard Time would offer more daylight hours when the majority of adults and kids need to be awake and doing stuff. It is better in line with our natural body clocks, the eons-old circadian rhythm that governs our sleep-wake cycle by, among other mechanisms, releasing the hormone melatonin in the evening to help make us sleepy and suppressing it during the day to keep us awake and alert. More than any other factor, daylight and darkness govern this cycle.

“It is time to stop changing our clocks in the spring and fall, but making Daylight Saving Time permanent is the wrong choice,” said Jennifer Martin, PhD, a clinical psychologist and president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

“Daylight Saving Time disrupts the body’s natural circadian rhythms and impacts sleep,” Martin explained. “Standard Time provides a better opportunity to get the right duration of high-quality, restful sleep on a regular basis, which improves our cognition, mood, cardiovascular health, and overall well-being.”

With a permanent switch to Standard Time — what scientists urge — people would wake up in the dark, before sunrise, far less often than under the current back-and-forth setup or with the politician’s ill-advised switch to permanent DST. Kids and teens, many of whom are sleep-deprived given early school start times, would also benefit from permanent Standard Time, experts say. Example:

Another example, as I explained last fall in an in-depth article on why DST should be abolished:

Across the nation — from northern Washington State to southern Florida — 8 a.m. work (or school) start times would always occur after sunrise under permanent Standard Time. But under permanent DST, 8 a.m. would come before sunrise for long stretches during winter — anywhere from two to three months or more, depending on latitude and longitude. To see the comparisons where you live, plug your own state and a nearby city into this sunrise chart.

Prepare to spring forward

Surviving the leap ahead relatively unscathed involves two strategies: Adopt good sleep habits in general to improve not just the duration of your sleep but the quality and effectiveness; and begin adjusting your sleep cycle a few days before the time change.

Proven tactics for better sleep, among the more than 20 I detail in my book, Make Sleep Your Superpower:

• Pick a bedtime and a wake-up time and stick to them seven days a week.
• Spend as much time as possible outside every day soaking up natural daylight to keep your body clock well-timed. Start as soon as practical after you rise.
• Get daily physical activity. I know, I know. Blah blah blah. But it works. Exercise promotes sleep, in the near-term and the long run (suggestions).
• Avoid alcohol, and don’t consume caffeine beyond early-afternoon.
• Don’t eat or drink anything in the three hours or so before bedtime.
• Dim lights or turn them off in the evening, and wind down mentally and emotionally by turning off social media, the news, work stuff and anything else that tends to induce stress.

How to spring forward gently:

• Starting tonight, begin going to bed a few minutes earlier each night, until on Saturday night you’re hitting the hay 30 to 60 minutes earlier than normal. Aim to sleep the same amount of time during this transition, rising a bit earlier each morning.
• Adjust meals, workouts and other activities forward, too.
• Avoid naps, or take them early in the afternoon and keep ’em short. There’s no firm science on whether naps are good or bad, but this isn’t the week to lean on an afternoon snooze, which can make it harder to fall asleep at night.
• Otherwise do all the smart things as usual: Exercise daily, eat well, and spend as much time outdoors as you can.
• On Saturday evening, set your clocks ahead. Even though the change officially occurs at 2 a.m. on Sunday, you’ve prepared yourself to wake up to the new, arguably flawed time.

You might be tempted to take sleeping pills or a melatonin supplement. The former is a big no-no without a doctor’s advice, in my book, and the latter should be handled with great care. Instead, put some intention and effort into sleeping well and start a whole new cycle of improved mood, more energy and better health. Due to the stupid clock change, this is a great week to get started.