Spring Ahead With COPD

We just had a time change and sprung ahead an hour.

I read that the general idea of why we do this is to make better use of natural daylight. Moving the clocks forward one hour and spring grants us more sunlight during the summer evenings, while moving back in the fall grants us more daylight during the winter mornings.

Why do we have daylight savings time?

Benjamin Franklin conceived this in 1784. London builder William Willet seriously advocated the idea in 1907.

William proposed advancing clocks 20 minutes on each of the four Sundays in April and retarding them by the same amount on four days in September.

Disagreements about this happened over the years but weren’t formally adopted by the U.S. until March 19, 1918, and started on March 31, 1918. Time changes switched dates many times over the years, and in 1986, daylight savings time in the U.S. began at 2:00 am on the first Sunday in April

It ended at 2:00 a.m. on the last Sunday of October. In 2007, daylight savings time changed and extended to the second Sunday in March, ending the first Sunday in November.

I have read that the U.S. Senate approved a bill called the Sunshine Protection Act, unanimously, to make daylight savings time stay permanent starting in 2023. This bill still needed to be taken to The House of Representatives before it could go onto President Biden to be signed.

I have not seen or heard of any updates since that article.

Now that we all had a reminder of why we have daylight savings time, I will share what it means to me and probably many of you, too.

Spring allergies with COPD

Daylight savings time means those spring allergies that come with COPD are on the way. It usually starts for me in early spring.

I have noticed a few headaches so far, but nothing more. Hopefully, it stays this way.

For years, my first pulmonologist prescribed me Flonase to use every night and loratadine to take every morning. I had read somewhere that taking this long-term can be harmful.

I have taken them constantly for over ten years. I finally took a break from taking them daily last fall after fall allergy season.

It’s been nice not taking them daily, and I haven’t missed having them.

I use all-natural essential oils as well. Lavender, peppermint, and lemon work well for allergies and other ailments. Always be sure to ask your doctors before using anything over the counter.

My doctor approves using the oils as long as they are all natural and not the ones from the local chains or drug stores that can be made synthetically or with fillers. Know what you are using. Do your research.

Like any med we take, we need to be sure and read about and learn all we can.

I hope I can continue without my allergy meds this year. If not, I probably will start back on just one to see if that helps.

If not, I will try both again, but I will just take them through spring allergy season and see if that is all that I need them for. So many of these meds that we take just cover up the symptoms but may do more harm than good.

I try to do as much research as I can and know what all our meds can do, both good and bad. Be aware and be your own advocate.

Do you have allergies? What helps you through them?

Do you like daylight savings time? Should we put an end to it or keep it? Please share your thoughts with us below in the comments.