It’s once again time for Daylight Savings, and while we’re all grateful to have more sunlight during the waking hours, it means we lost an hour of sleep this weekend. Unfortunately, this can mess up your sleep cycle for weeks, but experts say that one of the single best ways to help your brain adjust to the new sleeping pattern is to minimize electronics use before bedtime.

The practice of changing daily schedules in order to make the most use of daylight has been around for centuries, but modern Daylight Savings is credited to American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin. In springtime, we set our clocks forward, which means that we also are forced to wake up an hour earlier than our bodies are used to. Such a sudden change in sleep patterns can cause something known as "microsleeps," which are tiny lapses in attention, Newser reported. Although we may not be aware of these micosleeps, they can be potentially dangerous during the workday or your daily commute.

"It is likely that the effects are due to sleep loss rather than a nonspecific disruption in circadian rhythm, since gaining an additional hour of sleep at the fall time shift seems to decrease the risk of accidents," Dr. Stanley Coren, a sleep specialist, wrote in a study he published on microsleeps in 1996.

Microsleeps are preventable, and although you aren’t able to stop the clock from pushing forward, there are steps you can take to prevent this time change from having an adverse effect on your sleep. One of the most beneficial lifestyle changes you can make to help you sleep is to avoid using electronics during the evening.

Our “body clock,” also known as circadian rhythms, takes cues from the environment to know when it’s time to fall asleep and time to wake up. Since the beginning of human life the patterns of the sun have been the biggest indication of when we should sleep and wake, but the fairly recent onset of artificial light can trick our body into thinking it’s the waking hours when it’s actually bedtime. Lack of light prompts the body to create a hormone known as melatonin, which induces a drowsy sensation. The detection of light causes the body to revive once again. Experts believe the artificial light emitted from electronics can interfere with this delicate cycle.

“We know from preliminary reports that this level of light emission, 30 to 50 lux, is sufficient over a week or so to delay the timing of the circadian clock as well as suppress the production of the hormone melatonin," Professor Shantha Rajaratnam, from Monash University's School of Psychology and Psychiatry, told ABC News.

Resisting the urge to use devices such as smartphones and tablets before bed could help you to fall asleep faster, which in turn would help you to regain those z’s lost during this year’s “spring forward.”