Daylight savings can leave you groggy

Yay! We get more sunlight starting tomorrow, with 7 p.m. sunsets coming soon!

While this is an exciting time of year as the clocks spring forward one hour for daylight saving time, those lighter evenings come at a cost.

Losing an hour of sleep can lead to more traffic accidents, and scientific researchers have noticed an increase in heart attacks and strokes in the days following the change to daylight saving time each spring.

“Loss of sleep is not a good thing,” said Milena Pavlova, medical director of the Sleep Testing Center at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital. “It affects peoples’ cognitive performance and their hormones.

“The early part of the day is usually challenging for many people who are prone to better productivity at night,” Pavlova added.

For teenagers with packed schedules and an early school start time, the transition can be especially hard. In some cases, it can cause sleep disorders.

“In teens, we see a higher prevalence of a preference for evening hours,” Pavlova said. “It can be harder for them to adapt.”

Some things that people can do in the days before Sunday’s time change is going to bed a bit earlier and waking up about 30 minutes earlier.

“Make smaller changes earlier,” Pavlova added.

Another tip is getting earlier light exposure in the days before daylight saving time.

People should also avoid caffeine in the afternoon and evening.

“Make sure the environment is comfortable for sleep, so sleep can actually occur,” Pavlova said.

The American Heart Association said losing sleep anytime can be a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

“Getting a good night’s sleep every night is vital to cardiovascular health,” said Tim Herbert, president and CEO of Inspire Medical Systems, Inc. “Adults should aim for an average of 7-9 hours, and babies and kids need more depending on their age.

“Unfortunately, we know that as many as 1 in 3 people do not get their recommended amount of sleep each night,” Herbert added.

The amount of sleep and quality of sleep are important, and both can have significant impacts on cardiovascular health, as well as overall health.

In addition to increasing risk for cardiovascular conditions like heart attack and stroke, lack of sleep may also put people at risk of things like depression, cognitive decline and obesity.

New research in the Journal of the American Heart Association shows maintaining a consistent sleep pattern may play an important role in preventing cardiovascular disease. Researchers found that falling asleep at different times or sleeping an inconsistent number of hours each night — even variations of more than two hours a night within the same week — were tied to developing hardened arteries, known as atherosclerosis.