HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. — Springing forward, you may already feel the impact of daylight saving time after our clocks went forward an hour Sunday morning.
But it may be even more than you realize.
From the impact on your body to the impact on your driving.
"It's a hard adjustment for some people," said Colorado State Patrol Trooper Sherri Mendez. "They overestimate it and say, hey, it's just an hour. But it doesn't matter."
A recent study by CSP examined whether there was a correlation between fatigue and crashes after the clocks changed.
"We've seen an increase of more than 6% that happened from 2024 to 2025, the week after daylight savings time," Mendez explained. "So it is becoming a real issue."
Mendez says in 2025, the agency investigated 755 crashes tied to fatigue, resulting in more than 200 injuries and 13 deaths.
Over a ten-year period, examining the week before daylight saving and the week after, CSP found.
"There is an increase in fatal crashes, and it's actually almost up to 26%," Mendez detailed.
Diving further into the numbers, over the ten years, during the work week after the clocks change, Mondays saw the highest number of fatal crashes, with 12, triple the number on the Monday before daylight saving.
But it isn't all bad news, crashes with injuries were actually down 2.6% after the time change over the ten years, compared to before.
This is likely because falling asleep behind the wheel leads to more accidents rather than minor crashes.
Mendez says there are some easy warning signs that your body may not fully be adjusted to the change.
"The yawning, the extra blinking, weaving, which could look like you're driving impaired," Mendez explained.
So how can you avoid being a victim of sleep deprivation?
Experts say it could take many people a few days to fully adjust, but one way to adjust is to get morning sunlight.
The bright light in the morning helps to set our body's internal clock, our circadian rhythm, and so it helps us to know when we should feel awake and alert, and so getting that Morning sunshine will help us adapt faster to that Daylight Savings change," said Stacey Simon, Sleep Psychologist at Children's Hospital Colorado.
And if you think more caffeine will do the trick, think again.
"Extra coffee is not going to help, even though we like to think so," said Mendez. "Just make sure you know yourself before you get behind the wheel."
