Daylight Savings Time Impacts Health Scientists Say

[superpatriotman]

Early Sunday morning, at 2 a.m. to be precise, clocks will spring forward an hour to mark the start of Daylight saving time along with the debate over whether it is wise to continue changing the clocks twice a year.

University of California San Francisco sleep expert Dr. Kin Yuen, among a group of scientists who think it’s time to get rid of daylight savings. warns losing an hour of sleep could impact your health.

https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2022/03/11/daylight-saving-time-spring-forward-fall-back-change-clocks-sleep-science/

[Dr. Shepper]

1. I am not exaggerating

When I say the week after daylight savings is one of the hardest each year.

[obamanut2012]

3. It is one of my easiest

lol

[Cosmocat]

29. Me, too

I SO friggen hate the dark at the end of the day. It messes up my sleep cycle because I get so tired and drained by it that I fall asleep too early, wake up a lot earlier with less sleep, not able to fall asleep, and just drag arse all day.

[XanaDUer2]

36. Me too.

Hated driving home in the dark

[Delphinus]

15. So

TOTALLY agree with you.

[Mad_Machine76]

19. Agreed

I feel like I am constantly trying to rush to keep up with/capture that lost hour.

[Beaverhausen]

46. Agreed

It takes me about 2 weeks to get used to it.

[SheltieLover]

2. Yup!

[samplegirl]

12. I look forward to it!

After months and months of darkness is much harder than sleep disturbance.
So nice to look forward to longer daylight and not feeling like
it’s bedtime by 8:0O o’clock!

[SheltieLover]

13. I think they should just pick one & stop messing with it.

Glad it works for you!

[samplegirl]

20. Yes I'm all for leaving

the time change alone.

[Cosmocat]

30. Same

I just H A T E fall / winter vs feeling invigorated and energetic through the summer.

[MissMillie]

4. I'm not surprised

any time my sleep pattern is disrupted, it takes me a while to get back on track. And during that "while" that it takes to get back on track, I feel awful.

[doc03]

5. Give me a break losing one f--'g hour of sleep once

a year affects your health. Those egg heads should try and work shift work for 40 years.

[OldBaldy1701E]

16. Yep.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

23. Or, just have a kid.

That's when you're grateful to only lose one hour of sleep.

[Dr. Shepper]

38. I have a kid and it's not the lost sleep

I drag any time my schedule shifts. Maybe it’s because I don’t sleep well anyway (usually 5 hours if I’m lucky).

Plus trying to get the kid to sleep in the light is one aspect to the struggle.

[Owl]

37. Exactly!

😆

[Dr. Shepper]

40. It's not the lost sleep

I hardly sleep anyway. It’s the shift in schedule. It’s hard for me to keep up. And I’m not some egg head who can’t handle hard work.

[Quixote1818]

47. This hasn't ever made sense to me either. At least once a week I have a night I can't get to sleep

until after midnight.

[Clash City Rocker]

6. There are more heart attacks, strokes, and fatal car accidents after DST

https://www.businessinsider.com/daylight-saving-time-is-deadly-2018-3

I don’t know of any particularly good reason to keep it.

[Blues Heron]

10. Its a good idea over all

Try and match the work day to the natural day to avoid weirdness like hustling in deep winter to get going hours before dawn, or conversely having the sun come up at 4 AM in the summer.

[ck4829]

7. Yes.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

8. People will die needlessly in the coming week because of it.

[Blues Heron]

9. The ultimate first world problem

I had to get up early and I thought I wuz gonna die I tell ya

[Dr. Shepper]

41. Its not the lost sleep

It’s the shift in schedule that’s hard for me. And I’m not some weakling. I struggle with sleep anyway and my body takes time to adjust.

[Blues Heron]

42. Have you tried to ease into it starting a week before

Try going to sleep 10 minutes earlier each night, that might help it to be less of a shock when finally hits and the schedule shifts.

[Dr. Shepper]

45. I sleep like poop anyway

I’ve been up hours before I needed to be all last week. It doesn’t usually help the shift in rhythm. But we’ll see. Trying to get the kid asleep earlier is a whole other level of struggle too.

[Blues Heron]

48. sounds like you have more going on than just DST - good luck

[ProudMNDemocrat]

11. Hell! After coming back from Australia in 2018....

It took me 3 weeks to get back to normal. Consider a 17 hour time difference from Minnesota to Sydney, Australia. We left on November 22nd and returned to the United States on November 22nd.

By Christmas that year, I was back to feeling and functioning normal. Sleeping and eating patterns were askew.

[Blues Heron]

14. You dont automatically lose an hour of sleep

you can take steps to ease into DST, knowing its coming, get to bed a little earlier each day the previous week, then when the fateful day comes - BOOM! no problem, you are good to go, no heart attack, no stress, no muss, no fuss.

Failure to plan ahead and act on those plans can be hazardous to your health in so many arenas, this is no different. If you feel a clock change might give you a heart attack - do your homework, try and find out when this might be happening, and do something to mitigate it. Going to bed ten minutes earlier each day for the preceding 6 days might be just the ticket to ensure your survival.

[Liberal In Texas]

17. *Groan* I hate the spring onset (the return in the fall is easier)

I feel like I have jet lag for a couple of weeks. The older I get the worse it seems to be.

I also hate having to change the 20 some clocks spread all over the place that don't have auto DST settings.


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[jimfields33]

18. I have to reset exactly two clocks in my home

The microwave and stove. Everything else is automatic. I hope they finally auto change the stove and microwave someday.

[slightlv]

21. I detest the time change!

My body has never been able to handle it. It was hard enough to get it to fit into the 8-5 world when my circadian rhythm does NOT match that cycle. I've tried every trick in the book to fix it AND try to get thru the jump ahead and never have had anything work. I'm just completely out of sorts for a couple of weeks. And it does seem to get worse, the older I get.

That said, I'd rather suffer thru one more "leap forward" IF they would leave it alone after that. I actually like the extra daylight into the evening hours. It's the effects on my mind, body, and emotions from changing 2x a year I hate. Time is a relative thing, anyway. It's just timey-wimey balls of stuff.

This year, providing my cat pulls thru at the vet and comes back home to me okay... or on the way to okay... on Sunday, I plan on simply sleeping until I wake up. If anyone wants me before then... tough shit. I've worked since I was 10 years old. I'm tired of having to fit myself into everybody else's schedule. Now that I'm retired, they can catch me when and if they can!

As a former hour-long commuter every day, I have great empathy for those still working and having to commute during this time change. I met a lot of crazies on the road, most of whom were trying desperately to stay awake while commuting.

[betsuni]

22. One hour less sleep for one night and your life falls apart? What the hell? Who are these people?

They can't go to beddy-boo one hour earlier? Nobody's had insomnia, ever? Stayed out late? Never happens, but Daylight Savings Time one hour once a year will OMG impact your health? Come on.

[Sympthsical]

32. It's a neurological function of the pineal gland

We all keep internal clocks. I can glance outside, and my brain knows roughly what time it is within ten minutes based on the position of the sunlight, etc. It's something almost all of us do to varying degrees.

It isn't the losing of the hour of sleep that's the problem. It's the brain trying to synchronize when your subconscious functions and conscious functions end up out of step.

Even if you stay up late or wake up early, your brain more or less knows what time it is. It keeps track. When your conscious brain keeps telling your lower functions they're wrong, it takes up resources. They're constantly trying to reconcile environmental conditions. You can end up mentally drained more quickly and experience mental fatigue.

It's why jet lag exists.

Some people feel this a lot more than others. I don't really get jet lag, but I've seen it wreck other people for varying degrees of time. It's different for everyone.

But this isn't a "lost hour of sleep" thing. It's a neurological adjustment with a basis in biology that takes more time for some than others.

[Dr. Shepper]

43. Thank you!

I came back to this thread and saw all the posts mocking people like me who struggle.

It’s not the lost sleep. I struggle with sleep anyway. It’s the shift in rhythm.

[Sympthsical]

49. Yeah, it bugged me

Also, I just had an exam on the functions of the pineal gland, hypothalamus, and endocrine system, so I was all, "Oh oh! I know this!"

Gotta reinforce that learning for the final ^^

[milestogo]

24. I've heard there are more car accidents during the "spring ahead" week

than any other week of the year.

People are tired, and they make mistakes in judgment.

[dumbcat]

25. It's never really bothered me

one way or the other. I've survived 8 decades of it so far.

Changing my clocks is a little bit of a PITA. I have six clocks I need to re-set, but that really isn't a life altering task. It's a good opportunity to get them all synched and back on time.

[FoxNewsSucks]

26. I wish they'd just leave it on DST.

It's not a hassle to "spring forward", I just don't like it.

I did find out a few years ago that it's a lot easier to change clocks the day before. Which I did this morning.

Generally, for many reasons, I'd like to have the daylight at the end of the day.

[Phoenix61]

27. Then we need to get rid of the Super Bowl

and maybe football entirely.
“History shows cardiac emergencies tend to surge after dramatic games, especially when your team loses.”
https://abc7.com/amp/super-bowl-heart-attacks-health-cardiologist/11550798/

Yeah, pretty ridiculous, right.

[Poiuyt]

28. Is there anyone who actually likes the time changes each year?

Just keep it at one or the other.

[muriel_volestrangler]

33. It's natural to get up earlier as sunrise gets earlier

but a modern timetable-driven lifestyle has ended up doing it as changing the timetable in a single jump of an hour. So, yes, lots of people like that their work, study or other timed activities are earlier in the summer.

I always varied the times I get up at weekends by an hour or more, so it doesn't seem a big deal to me. Those who work to a timetable on Sunday morning have more of a reason to dislike it.

[Blues Heron]

35. There are good reasons to attempt to sync the workday to the natural day

Why would you want to get up hours before the sun in december? No one wants that, so staying on dst doesn’t make sense in northern climes.

Likewise, we set the clocks forward in summer to take advantage of the morning light, thus getting a jump on the day and allowing more free daylight time after work in the evening.

[Thunderbeast]

31. STATES MUST PASS LAWS REQUIRING YOU TO GO TO BED AN HOUR EARLIER.

on the night prior to the time change.

All television programming including streaming services must stop at 9:00! Only thing on TV would be sheep jumping over a log.

Violators who stay awake should be subject to civil suits enforced by their neighbors with an automatic $10,000 fine.

Problem solved....and I get to go on long walks after dinner.

[marie999]

34. DST doesn't affect us since we are retired.

We go to bed when we are tired and wake up when our bodies tell us to. Our yard birds don't know what DST is so we fed them this morning at 7 AM, and will feed them tomorrow at 8 AM.

[Lucid Dreamer]

39. I guess my changing schedules made me immune to 1hr clock changes.

I worked in Air Traffic Control facilities on multiple different types of schedules some 8hr days, some 10hr.

A typical 8hr week would be
OFF
OFF
4pm
noon
8am
6am
midnight

Now that I'm retired I sleep from 230am to 830am. Set my alarm for 9am but usually wake up on my own.
If I have an occasional 8am class to teach I go to bed at 11pm and set alarm for 530.

One stinking hour change a year doesn't mean much to me.

-- All attempts to regain my sanity have failed.

[maxsolomon]

44. It happens on Sunday morning. I stay in bed until I want to wake up.

It's not my fault you all want to make 8 am Mass.

[hunter]

50. Why not adjust work schedules to fit the seasons?

Farmers, fishers, and many sorts of construction workers do it.

Everything doesn't have to be done in lockstep with "9 to 5" office hours.

[Lucid Dreamer]

51. Wow! After 7 and the sun is still up. Definitely worth one stinking hour of Sunday sleep!

...and the rumor is it will happen again tomorrow!