Ways to Control How Your Body Adjusts to Time Changes

We can adopt zeitgebers to reset our circadian rhythms and use other strategies to help our bodies adapt to daylight savings time, jet lag, or shift work.

Daylight savings time effects the body much the same way that jet lag does. Shutterstock

Chances are you’ve used a zeitgeber recently, even if you’ve never heard the word.

Zeitgeber is familiar lingo to sleep researchers. It’s a German word for any cue that can set or reset our circadian rhythms. Sometimes, zeitgeber is translated more literally as a “time giver” or an external timing signal.