Daylight savings haters rejoice: scientists confirm it’s bad for health | Health & wellbeing
Summer time is not only a problem – it can also be bad for your health.
The routine “spring, discount” twice a year Retry the daily cycles of our body, called circadian rhythms, with potentially harmful consequences. And a new study supports what many sleep experts have long argued: the solution is to get rid of daylight for good.
It will not be easy. Although there is a lot of support to eliminate the change of time itself, Donald Trump and some in the Congress called on the opposite: to make the savings of the day permanent. And this can be unpopular with those of us who take advantage of an additional hour of light during a summer evening.
Researchers from the University of Stanford have found that maintaining our clocks all year round, instead of simply fall and winter (as in most American states as well as the United Kingdom), would reduce the prevalence of obesity and cerebral vascular accidents. The study, published in the acts of the National Academy of Sciences, is distinguished from many other research thanks to its extent. Instead of just looking at what’s going on when the clocks change, the researchers compared three scenarios: permanent standard time, permanent summer time and the current switching system, which applies in most American states.
Dr. Jamie Zeitzer, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and Lara Weed, doctoral student in bio-engineering, modeled sun exposure in each county in the 48 contiguous states and compared this information with federal health data. The objective, says Zeitzer, was to use an existing mathematical model to discover the “circadian burden” of the three scenarios in daylight – in other words, “how much stress do we put on the circadian system?” This stress is associated with a variety of disorders, including obesity and cerebral vascular accidents. The result suggested that, at least in circadian terms, the permanent standard time is the least restrictive of our health.
“It goes hand in hand with what we have said since 2019,” said Dr. Karin Johnson, professor of neurology at the Chan School of Medicine at the University of Massachusetts and member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Johnson testified in favor of permanent normal time before a committee of the US Senate in April, telling the legislators that he would create “a more natural alignment between our social hours and the Cycle of the Sun every day of the year”.
“Our bodily rhythms are essentially lying by the sun,” she says. But because our natural cycle is slightly greater than 24 hours, “we need to get clues every day to stay on the right track. Otherwise, our rhythms are delayed. ” This results in problems ranging from the difficulty of sleeping and waking up for digestive problems. “The more we can stay aligned with the sun’s time,” she says, “the better it is healthy for our body, the better our brain works, the better our sleep.” The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), the American Academy of Neurology and the National Non -Lucrative Health and Security Council agree.
But this argument goes against a repeated effort at the Congress to adopt Sunshine Protection Act, which would change the system to make savers of the day permanent. Unlike almost everything that is confronted with the congress, it does not seem to be a very partisan affair; Ted Cruz, for example, heard “serious arguments on both sides” and even Trump recognized that it was a “number 50-50”.
Permanent savings in daylight may seem attractive, because jumping an hour in the spring leads to long sunny evenings, but Johnson says that the view is misleading. “They are really summer people like it, but they connect it in their minds at summer time,” she said. Even under the standard moment, she notes, the summer nights would be long. The permanent effnals of daylight, on the other hand, would cost us an essential light during the winter mornings – Although of course, the Americans be late may prefer to have this light in the evening.
This year, a Gallup survey revealed that the drop in summer time support in the summer, with 48% of Americans supporting permanent standard time, 24% supporting daylight savings and 19% wishing to stick to the current system. In 2023, however, a Yougov survey revealed that among those who wanted to stop changing clocks, 50% supported permanent savings of the day and 31% took care of the permanent normal time.
As for Zeitzer, while his latest research argues in favor of permanent standard time, he warns that circadian rhythms are just a “piece of the puzzle”. “Do people do more exercise if there is more light in the morning?” Is it fewer children at school because it is too dark in the morning? Are there better economic results that will help economically marginalized individuals? ” he asks. “There are many things that could happen if you move where this hour of light occurs, and frankly, it could be very different in different parts of the country.”
Defenders of permanent savings of the day suggested that this could, for example, help fight seasonal depression, save energy and reduce vehicle accidents. (And while the AASM classifies the permanent savings of the day as the worst of the three options, Zeitzer’s study says that it is better than constant switching.)
But for Johnson, the answer is clear. “It is a long and slow process, but I think that passing the word with studies like this can, hopefully, move this needle” towards a permanent standard time, “she says. “Because people are desperate to end the change of time.”
