How daylight saving time could affect your health
Most of America “springs forward” Sunday for daylight saving time and losing that hour of sleep can do more than leave you tired and cranky the next day. It also could harm your health.
Darker mornings and more evening light together knock your body clock out of whack — which means daylight saving time can usher in sleep trouble for weeks or longer. Studies have even found an uptick in heart attacks and strokes right after the March time change.
There are ways to ease the adjustment, including getting more sunshine to help reset your circadian rhythm for healthful sleep.
“Not unlike when one travels across many time zones, how long it can take is very different for different people,” said Dr. Eduardo Sanchez of the American Heart Association. “Understand that your body is transitioning.”
Daylight saving time begins at 2 a.m. Sunday, an hour of sleep vanishing in most of the U.S. The ritual will reverse Nov. 3 when clocks “fall back” as daylight saving time ends.
Hawaii and most of
Arizona don't make the spring switch, sticking to standard time year-round along with Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Worldwide, dozens of countries also observe daylight saving time, starting and ending at different dates.
Some people try to prepare for daylight saving time's sleep jolt by going to bed a little earlier two or three nights ahead. With a third of American adults already not getting the recommended seven hours of nightly shuteye, catching up can be difficult.
The brain has a master clock that is set by exposure to sunlight and darkness. This circadian rhythm is a roughly 24hour cycle that determines when we become sleepy and when we're more alert.
The patterns change with age, one reason that early-to-rise youngsters evolve into hard-to-wake teens.
Morning light resets the rhythm. By evening, levels of a hormone called melatonin begin to surge, triggering drowsiness. Too much light in the evening — that extra hour from daylight saving time — delays that surge and the cycle gets out of sync.