Tips to prepare for daylight saving

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CHICAGO, March 7 (UPI) -- A U.S. sleep expert offers tips for coping and adjusting to Sunday's time change to Daylight Saving Time when clocks jump forward an hour.

Dr. Sunita Kumar, a sleep specialist at Loyola University Medical Center near Chicago, said there are ways to make the adjustment to having lost an hour of sleep Monday morning. For example, start going to bed and getting up a few minutes earlier each day.

Kumar also suggests:

-- Don't nap on the Saturday before the time change.

-- To help reset your internal body clock, expose yourself to sunlight in the morning as early as you can. This will help advance your circadian rhythm.

-- Eat dinner earlier, back up your nighttime routine and dim the lights in the evening.

-- Try to get children to bed earlier, too.

"I know I need to do this for my kids," Kumar said.

Kumar is medical director of Loyola's Sleep Program and a fellow of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.