(Radio Iowa) – Iowans will have to push their clocks back an hour before heading to bed on Saturday night, while one expert says falling back to daylight saving time can be very difficult on our bodies and we need to start prepping early. Christie Harris, a wellness education specialist at Emplify Health by Gundersen, says studies find setting the clocks back can lead to an increased risk of depressive episodes, heart attacks and strokes.

“There’s actually been research that has shown that the week of daylight saving time there tends to be more car accidents,” Harris says. “There’s other things that tend to put people more at risk because our bodies just have a harder time being able to adjust to the changes in our sleeping patterns.” Harris says Iowans ought to consider shifting their bedtime now, perhaps by just ten or 15 minutes a night, in order to gradually prep for the change this weekend.

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“Some of that could be slowly changing that sleeping pattern so that in the fall you’re going to bed to adjust for that time frame, so that your body isn’t having as much sleep disruptions,” Harris says. “And I would say do the same thing in the spring as well, because both of them definitely have a direct impact on our overall health.” Adults know that it’s important to get good sleep, and she says parents need to take particular note of how their kids are faring during the daylight saving shift.

“We should know better than anybody that if our sleep gets disrupted, then I think we really need to advocate for our kids. Sometimes our kids probably aren’t going to be so happy with what we’re asking them to do,” Harris says, “but we need to remember that sometimes when we’re parenting, if our kids don’t always like us the most, that’s probably meaning we’re doing something well, right?”

Emplify Health by Gundersen has clinics in Calmar, Decorah, Fayette, Lansing, Postville and Waukon, and a hospital in West Union.