{"id":2432,"date":"2022-11-06T15:26:33","date_gmt":"2022-11-06T21:26:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/claremontcoloniccenter.com\/?p=2432"},"modified":"2022-11-06T15:31:09","modified_gmt":"2022-11-06T21:31:09","slug":"is-daylight-saving-time-healthy-for-you-no-experts-say-pointing-to-lost-sleep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/claremontcoloniccenter.com\/?p=2432","title":{"rendered":"Is Daylight Saving Time Healthy for You? No, Experts Say, Pointing to Lost Sleep."},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Is Daylight Saving Time Healthy for You? No, Experts Say, Pointing to Lost Sleep.<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\tFor years, medical experts have stressed how daylight savings can negatively impact sleep.

\nDaylight saving, which begins in the spring and ends mid-fall, can make it harder to both wake up and fall asleep \u2013 as the “wall clock” moves farther away from the “sun clock.”

\nIf passed into law, the Sunshine Protection Act would make daylight saving time permanent in all but two states. But health experts advocate for adopting permanent standard time year round.<\/b>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\tMedical experts are continuing to stress daylight saving time’s health consequences \u2013 notably how time changes can throw off your sleep cycle.

\n\n“It’s the same story every year,” Dr. Sabra Abbott, a Northwestern Medicine physician and associate professor of neurology in the school’s department of sleep medicine, told USA TODAY.

\n\n“We’re dealing with competing clocks,” Abbott said, pointing to how our bodies usually follow the sun and not the time on our phones. How long sunlight lasts each day depends on the season and where you are geographically \u2013 but daylight saving time moves us farther away from the “sun clock,” experts say.

\n\n“During standard time, noon tends to be the point at which the sun is highest in the sky. But when we shift to daylight saving time, what happens is that relationship between the wall clock and the sun clock are clearly skewed,” Abbott said.

\n\nThat can result in less sleep.

\nLosing sleep?<\/b>

\n\nMost people have a harder time waking up during daylight saving time \u2013 because the sky stays darker longer in the morning. In turn, many have difficulty falling asleep at night because light lasts later into the evening.

\n\nWhen does daylight saving time end 2022? What it means for your clocks, calendar and sleep

\n\nDST in Mexico: <\/b> Mexico scraps daylight saving time except along border with US

\n\nEspecially this time of year, right before daylight saving time ends, “the biggest problem is our internal clock doesn’t know it’s time to wake up,” Dr. Jennifer Martin, president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, told USA TODAY.

\n\nThe Department of Transportation, which oversees daylight saving time, says the practice saves energy, reduces crime and prevents traffic accidents. But many medical experts disagree \u2013 saying the health consequences of losing sleep outweigh the time change’s potential benefits.

\n\n“The benefits are theoretical and the harms are proven,” Martin said.

\n\nOf course, healthy sleep is essential. Previous studies, including some that look specifically into the health impacts of daylight saving time, have found that long term sleep deficiency is linked to increased risk of depression, substance use disorder, cardiovascular disease and more.

\n\nCiting these health consequences, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine issued a 2020 position statement calling for the U.S. to eliminate daylight savings time and adopt year-round standard time nationwide.

\n\nBack up. How does daylight saving time work?<\/b>

\n\nIf you’re in a one of the 48 states that currently practice daylight saving time, you change your “wall” clocks twice a year. In the spring, the annual period of daylight savings begins \u2013 with clocks jumping forward an hour ahead of standard time and staying on “daylight savings time” until mid-fall.

\n\nRight now, we’re nearing the end of daylight saving time \u2013 with clocks across most of the country falling back an hour on Sunday.

\n\nReturning to standard time, as most of the U.S. does the first Sunday of November, is usually “the easier (time change) to adapt to, Abbott says, adding that she encourages people to “take advantage of that time to try to get a little bit of extra sleep.”

\n\nStill, it can be an adjustment. Martin notes that people who already struggle with sleep issues, like insomnia, and parents with infants are particularly impacted.\n\n“Most of us feel the disruption in the spring when we lose an hour of the nighttime \u2013 but even in the fall as we’re switching back, some people have a hard time adjusting,” Martin said. “It’s sort of like having a little bit of jet lag twice a year.”

\nWhat about the Sunshine Protection Act of 2021?<\/b>

\n\nIn March, the U.S. Senate passed the Sunshine Protection Act of 2021. If the bill becomes law, daylight saving time would be permanent in all but two states, Arizona and Hawaii, and a handful of U.S. territories \u2013 where standard time is used year round.

\n\nAdvocates of adopting this legislation have pointed to the potential economic and safety benefits \u2013 including recent research that’s suggested permanent daylight saving will bring significantly less deer-vehicle collisions. Still, studies report mixed results. Past research from the University of Colorado Boulder, for example, found a 6% spike in car accidents right after daylight saving’s annual “spring forward.”

\n\nFrom a medical standpoint, many experts again stress that adopting permanent standard time, not daylight time, is critical.

\n\n“We actually oppose the Sunshine Protection Act because of the potential health and safety risks associated with daylight savings time in the winter months,” Martin said. “The highest risk, of course, will be in the northern states \u2013 where, in some metropolitan areas, sunrise won’t occur until 9:30 in the morning or later… We think about students going to school (in the dark).”

\n\nExperts and historians have also noted that the U.S. has tried to switch to a permanent daylight savings time before \u2013 but it did not last.

\n\nPermanent daylight saving time? America tried it before … and it didn’t go well.

\n\nAbbott adds that, while just about everyone wants to “get rid of the switch back and forth” that comes with two time changes each year, “the real question is, ‘Which direction should we go?’ … From sleep and health perspective, the best route seems to be permanent standard time.”


\nContributing: Wyatte Grantham-Philips \/ Adrianna Rodriguez, USA TODAY.<\/i>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is Daylight Saving Time Healthy for You? No, Experts Say, Pointing to Lost Sleep. For years, medical experts have stressed how daylight savings can negatively impact sleep. Daylight saving, which begins in the spring and ends mid-fall, can make it harder to both wake up and fall asleep<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,4,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","category-lifestyle","category-news-and-information"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/claremontcoloniccenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/claremontcoloniccenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/claremontcoloniccenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/claremontcoloniccenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/claremontcoloniccenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2432"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/claremontcoloniccenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2436,"href":"https:\/\/claremontcoloniccenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2432\/revisions\/2436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/claremontcoloniccenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/claremontcoloniccenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/claremontcoloniccenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}