Daylight Savings Time Can be a Health Hazard

I have yet to meet someone who likes swapping our clocks back and forth an hour twice a year. Fortunately I don’t have to deal with it in Arizona.

Daylight savings time originated in World War I. Germany first implemented it in order to save fuel for lighting and the idea spread. More recent analysis has found that changing our clocks really doesn’t save much energy at all.

Besides the inconvenience of changing clocks, there are potential health issues as well. Consider these statistics:

• Heart Attacks: A 10% to 24% spike in heart attacks occurs on the Monday and Tuesday after "springing forward".

• Fatal Traffic Accidents: A 6% increase in fatal car accidents is observed in the week following the shift.

• Stroke and Cardiovascular Issues: Research indicates a 5% increase in strokes during the days following the change.

• Mental Health: A Danish study found an 11% increase in depression cases, and studies have shown higher suicide rates in males following the shift.

• Workplace Injuries: Workplace injuries are more frequent and severe on the Monday after the time change.

Changing times creates a mini-jet lag in people. They lose sleep. Their sleep becomes disrupted. And then bad things happen.

The phenomenon may not just affect people twice a year, especially in the Spring. People who live on the western side of time zones as a group experience poorer health than those who live on the eastern side of time zones.

They call it “social jet lag”.

Someone on the eastern end of a time zone will have more sunlight when they wake up at a certain time than those on the western edge of a time zone. Yet they have exactly the same clock schedule.

A study showed that those later sunset times on the western side of time zones were correlated with:

• Shorter sleep

• Higher rates of obesity

• Increased prevalence of diabetes

• More cardiovascular disease

• Poorer self-reported health

When most of the country ‘springs forward’ it’s like we moved the population further west in the time zone. People may perceive that they like having the sun set later in the day. However, it means the sun rises later in the morning as well.

Early morning sun is the best way to synchronize the circadian rhythm system in our bodies. When we delay resetting it, many people go to bed later and have less sleep.

We try to have our assisted living residents go outside in the early morning to take in some sunlight. Resetting their circadian rhythm, especially for residents with dementia, helps them sleep at night and avoids ‘sundowning’ .

So be careful out there. Adjust your sleep schedule, if you can, to still sleep the same amount you did in the winter. And try to go to sleep at about the same time, regardless of the time changes. Try to enjoy some morning sun outdoors as well.

Your body, mind and overall health may be better because you do. Hopefully someday everywhere will be like Arizona.