Why Daylight Saving Time isn’t Healthy

Morning light assists keep our biological rhythms on the right track. Daylight saving time throws that off.

Daylight saving time has finished, and many Americans have turned their clocks back an hour.

On November 6, every state in the United States other than Hawaii and the majority of Arizona changed from daylight saving time, or DST, to standard time (those two states do not observe DST). That change changed an hour of light from the evening to the morning. In March, we’ll move in the various other direction when we “spring forward,” trading morning light for brighter nights.

The United States biannual time shift has been lighting up headlines since the U.S. Senate’s unanimous vote in March to make daylight saving time permanent. The Sunshine Protection Act would undoubtedly pass up turning clocks to and from, repeating an undesirable experiment Congress attempted in the 1970s and prioritizing evening light throughout the year. The health case for staying on daylight saving time is rather dim. And also what such a shift can imply for adolescents is especially bleak.

Also, the name “daylight saving time” isn’t quite appropriate, states Kenneth Wright, a sleep and circadian expert at the University of Colorado Boulder. There’s no difference in the amount of daylight, he says. We’re changing how we live relative to the sun. When we shift our clocks onward an hour, noon no more stands for when the sun is near its highest point in the sky. Suddenly, people’s routines are solarly out of sync (SN: 10/17/16).

That’s a big deal biologically, Wright says. Human beings evolved with an everyday cycle of light and dark. That establishes the rhythms of our bodies, from when we rest and wake to when hormones are launched. Morning light, specifically, is a crucial wake-up signal. He claims that when we tinker with time, we’re essentially making a choice: Do we want to opt for what we’ve evolved with, or do we want to change that?

From a health viewpoint, if he needed to grade permanent daylight saving time, permanent standard time, or our current practice of biannual clock shifting, Wright says, “I believe the response is extremely clear.” Permanent standard time is healthiest for human beings, he states. In his view, permanent daylight saving time ranks last.

Daylight saving time takes a toll on health

Wright is not alone. As daylight saving time ticked toward its annual end, sleep experts throughout the nation stepped out in favor of standard time.

Scientists have correlated sleep loss, heart attacks, and an increased risk of dying in the hospital after a stroke to the change to daylight saving time, neurologist Beth Malow wrote in Sleep in September. She testified to that this year prior to a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee.

Malow, of Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, says that his message was that permanent standard time was a much healthier option.

For both Malow and Wright, a few of the most fascinating research examine U.S. time zone borders. Living on the late sunset side of a border takes a toll on individuals’ health and sleep compared to those living on the very early sunset side, researchers suggested in 2019. A similar research study in 2018 additionally found a raised risk of liver cancer the further west individuals lived within a time zone, where the sun rises and sets later in the day.

The disadvantage of nighttime light is that it is only sometimes crystal clear. A November study, for example, suggested that year-round daylight saving time would certainly reduce deer-vehicle collisions (SN: 11/2/22). Studies like these can be hard to interpret, Malow claims. Other variables may come into play, like deer’s seasonal activity and transforming road conditions. The car-crash literature has been so combined, she says. I’ve seen stuff come out on both sides.

She points to a study in time Society in June which located that individuals on the western edge of a time zone had more vehicle fatalities than their easterly neighbors.

Dark mornings and light evenings suggest people’s body clocks do not line up with the sun. Malow states that inequality can hinder sleep, resulting in sleepy drivers, which may factor into collisions. At night, if “there’s still light overhead, it messes with our brains.”

A sleep doctor’s pointers for getting more sleep

For any person battling with sleep– whether amid standard time or daylight saving time– Sonal Malhotra of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston has a couple of suggestions for ways to get a more relaxing night.

• Try to wake up to morning sunlight.
• Keep a constant sleep schedule, awakening and going to sleep around the same time on a daily basis (even on weekends).
• Maintain a constant meal and exercise routine.
• Refrain from afternoon naps.
• Refrain from afternoon caffeine.

Morning light wakes up the brain

The brains of teens and tweens are a lot more prone, Malow says. When kids go through puberty, the brain waits an hour or longer to release melatonin, the “hormone of darkness,” which informs the bodies of children and adults alike that it’s time to go to sleep.

Bedtime can be hard for older kids because they’re just not as sleepy as they used to be physiologically. And as I’ve found out with my little girl, if you throw early school start times in the mix, rising and shining can be even harder.

” I have a middle schooler, too. It’s severe,” claims Lisa Meltzer, a pediatric sleep psychologist at National Jewish Health in Denver. Some U.S. school districts are making changes that may make mornings easier. This year, most California high and middle schools debuted later start times. Five years ago, Meltzer’s school district started a similar experiment. What they found out can educate us on how older children might get on if daylight saving time were to stay year-round, Meltzer says.

In 2017, the Cherry Creek School District in suburban Denver turned middle and high schools’ very early start times with elementary schools’ later ones. The change didn’t affect younger children much, who started class well after sunrise, at 8 a.m., states Meltzer, who showed the science behind changing school start times to her school board. Yet older kids that began school at 8:20 a.m. or 8:50 a.m. saw a large difference. They slept more in the evening and often tended to function better throughout the day, Meltzer’s team reported most recently in the February Sleep Medicine.

“The top thing [high-schoolers] said was how much they liked heading to school when it was light out,” she says.

And it had not been just the students. Their teachers also felt the benefits of later start times, Meltzer and colleagues report November 6 in the Journal of School Health.

Meltzer states that morning light is crucial for keeping individuals’ bodies on schedule. With permanent daylight saving time, children will certainly not have the same mind-blowing, brain-wakening a.m. sunlight. She says that we require morning sunlight to maintain our internal clocks on track.

So far, the Senate’s plan for year-round daylight saving time has seemed to delay, so the possibility of an everlasting shift towards evening light doesn’t look brilliant. Come March, when daylight saving time starts once more. We’ll have to readjust again.

Sonal Malhotra, a pediatric pulmonologist and sleep doctor at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, has some pointers for kids struggling with sleep. Consistency is crucial. She says regular sleep, meal, and workout routines. As well as when waking up, she adds, “make sure you have bright light.” Malhotra likewise suggests avoiding afternoon naps and caffeine.

Read the original article on Science News.

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