Why Permanent Daylight-Saving Time Is Bad for Your Health, Sleep Scientists Say

[question everything]

Permanently moving to daylight-saving time is likely to cause more harm than good when it comes to our health, sleep science indicates. For years, researchers have bemoaned the biannual changing of the clocks, saying shifting just one hour is linked to a slew of negative health effects, including an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. But when the U.S. Senate recently passed a bill to make daylight-saving time permanent, sleep experts became more alarmed. Legislators picked the wrong time, they say.

Our internal clocks are connected to the sun, which aligns more closely with permanent standard time, says Muhammad Adeel Rishi, a pulmonologist and sleep physician at Indiana University. When the clocks spring forward, our internal clocks don’t change but are forced to follow society’s clock rather than the sun. DST is like permanent social jet lag. Dr. Rishi is one of the authors of a 2020 position statement from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, a professional society, supporting making standard time—not daylight-saving time—permanent.

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Sleep researchers say permanent daylight-saving time means we are always an hour off from the internal clock in our bodies, which disrupts our circadian rhythms, sleep and all of our biological systems. Changing the clocks has been linked to short-term increases in car accidents, medical errors, heart attacks and strokes. Research suggests there may also be a more sustained negative health impact linked to a chronic circadian misalignment during permanent DST, including increased risks of metabolic and cardiovascular disorders and cancer in areas where the sun rises later.

Our internal circadian clocks are in nearly every cell in our body and influence everything from hormone levels to blood pressure. Disrupting this internal clock by even an hour can throw the balance off. AASM issued a statement following the Senate’s Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight-saving time permanent, and pointed to its 2020 position statement in support of permanent standard time.

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Permanent DST could be particularly difficult for teenagers who biologically have a delayed internal clock which makes them get tired later at night and wake up later in the morning, sleep scientists say. Early school start times already disrupt their natural rhythms. Permanent DST would exacerbate this problem. Too much light in the evening has been linked to an increased risk for diabetes and hypertension, says Dr. Zee. Research has also shown a greater risk of chronic illnesses, including cancer, in places that receive less light in the morning. Such studies show associations, not a definitive cause and effect, so it is unclear what other factors may be playing a role.

More..

https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-permanent-daylight-saving-time-is-bad-for-your-health-sleep-scientists-say-11648002326 (subscription)

[samplegirl]

1. I hope they keep it

I enjoy the extra hour of daylight!

[jimfields33]

2. I do to

Of course, they have to find one doctor to say, “no good.” Of course.

[lagomorph777]

18. News flash. No daylight is actually created by spinning the hands around on the clock.

[SharonAnn]

21. I like the extra hour at the end of the day. Don't mind winter darkness in the AM.

[Lucky Luciano]

3. Never understood any whining about changing the clocks. It's just an hour.

Try traveling to Japan.

Force me to choose and I will go with DST. Daylight at 4:30am in the summer is completely fucking useless.

[Skittles]

6. thank you

as a 12 hour night shift worker who routinely gets 3 hours of sleep due to DAYTIME ASSHOLES, I too wonder how freaking delicate people really are.....WTF

[argyl]

13. I can really sympathize. I worked 12 hour night shifts for years.

And it's the only having 12 hours off that ground me down. Much more so than the 12 hour shifts themselves.
I don't miss them.

[question everything]

7. But sunrise at 9:00 am in the winter for northern states is dangerous.

[ZZenith]

8. Alaska?

[question everything]

10. Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Michigan Upper Peninsula

[ZZenith]

12. What percentage of the U.S. population do you suppose lives in those states?

[question everything]

22. Why does it matter? You are willing to sacrifice the safety of school kids and workers so others

can play late?

And, as discussed below, standard time is more aligned with nature. What ever happened to "follow the science?" Rubio certainly did not.

[ZZenith]

23. It matters because FAR more people in the country will be out and about in the dark

if standard time is kept year round. Northern latitudes can adjust their school hours where necessary. Should the majority of the country have to wake up at 4:30 am during the summers?

[lagomorph777]

19. These may help you understand the "whining":

https://arcca.com/daylight-savings-time-and-traffic-accidents/

WHAT DOES NHTSA HAVE TO SAY ABOUT TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS AND DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME:
It has been shown through analysis of the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) Fatal Accident Reporting System (FARS) that the Monday and Tuesday following daylight savings time change has a 17% increase in traffic fatalities. Researchers theorize that the loss of one hour means that people just may not get enough sleep. This theory is supported by FARS data that showed that there was a decrease in motor vehicle accidents when daylight savings time ended in the fall.

Daylight savings time has also been shown to have negative effects on people with higher rates of heart attacks and workplace injuries, although not to the magnitude of traffic accidents.

Another factor for increased traffic accidents due to daylight savings time could be the sudden change in sunrise time. For example, before daylight savings time in New York City, New York, civil twilight starts at approximately 5:50 a.m. with sunrise occurring at 6:15 a.m. This early sunrise is typically before or during the early part of the rush hour commute. After daylight savings time begins, civil twilight starts at approximately 6:40 a.m. with sunrise at 7:10 a.m. This means that the sun is rising and could cause sun glare to commuters driving during rush hour commutes.

https://www.standard.net/news/health-news/2022/mar/24/when-it-comes-to-permanent-daylight-saving-time-science-isnt-so-sunny/

Strokes, heart attacks and traffic accidents. What do they all have in common?

Daylight saving time.

A 2020 study published in The Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine found a spike in heart attacks and strokes during the week following daylight saving time in March. Johns Hopkins and Stanford University also published a comprehensive study showing a significant increase in car crash fatalities on the Monday following the spring change.

“Anytime there is a change in the time schedule, such as at the transition from daylight saving time to standard time and back, it can typically take the body a few days to adjust, although for some people it can take a few weeks or longer,” said Dr. Kevin A. Walker, medical director for Intermountain Healthcare’s Sleep Disorders Center.

This adjustment is typically more difficult when moving forward, like we do in the spring, Walker said, and on average people may get 30-40 minutes less sleep the Monday after.

“In addition, waking up earlier when it’s darker can be more difficult because we rely on that light exposure to signal our circadian clock to be more awake,” Walker said. ” This sleep disruption can negatively affect mood, cardiovascular health and driving safety. It’s possible that avoiding this time change could have some health and safety benefits.”

The U.S. Senate recently passed a bill to make daylight saving time permanent, opting for the spring jump forward instead of standard time, but health and sleep experts across the country aren’t so supportive.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine issued a statement cautioning the permanent change could cause potential health risks “that could be avoided by establishing permanent standard time instead.”

[nycbos]

4. This study was the time swich is bad for your health.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7302868/


Maybe it's a f**ked either way thing.

[Skittles]

5. pick the one that makes people whine the least

PLEASE

[question everything]

11. I have seen someplace that most prefer Standard

[MyMission]

16. Standard time aligns with our circadian rhythm

Which is why there's a push to keep us at standard rather than daylight savings time.
I heard an interesting piece on NPR the day after Senate voted to make daylight savings permanent, with a medical researcher discussing why standard time is better.

For those who do shift work or international travel, it stresses and messes with circadian rhythms. We can "adjust" or adapt, out of necessity, but our bodies are out of wack to varying degrees until we can resume a rhythm more in line with our bodies and the sun.

Personally, I usually wake up with the sun. When we go to daylight savings, the lost hour makes it hard to wake up before the sun wakes me.

Many prefer daylight savings because they enjoy longer days. But the medical community that has researched this is speaking out, essentially saying standard time is standard for a good reason.

[lagomorph777]

20. Of course. Standard time was meant to align with our internal clocks as closely as practical.

[localroger]

9. Which is which is arbitrary, just fucking pick one and go with it

It's the switch that is the cause of all the health problems. Both systems have other problems that can be mitigated by -- bear with me here -- individual institutions changing their hours if appropriate. HOW RADICAL IS THAT? If your school kids are going to school in the dark in the winter, CHANGE THE FUCKING HOURS. Not for everyone, but for the school. How hard is that? Different industries and occupations have different requirements. Somethings really need to be done in daylight. Reality check, daylight hours change over the course of a year. So HEY, YOU INDUSTRIES and stuff, YOU change YOUR HOURS. Don't fuck with the rest of us who can do our work whenever. HOW HARD IS THAT?

[slightlv]

14. Love your thought process...

but you don't actually think the oligarchs care a whit about whether we work in daylight or night... or even if we're awake or half asleep while we try to work! We're just drones, dontcha know! /sarcasm

[twodogsbarking]

15. A great topic to argue about.

Carry on.

[lagomorph777]

17. Obviously. The correct move is permanent Standard Time.

Humans created standardized time as a compromise between the natural rhythms of hunter-gatherer or agrarian society, and the need to synchronize labor and transportation in an industrialized society.

The more we screw around with our internal clocks, the more we screw up our health.