Home » Health » The Health Impacts of Daylight Saving Time and the Case for Abolishing It

The Health Impacts of Daylight Saving Time and the Case for Abolishing It

The body does not adapt to the changing of the clock, which causes a kind of jet lag feeling. Many people will suffer from this a little and some people more. According to researchers, for example, there is a risk of weight problems or feelings of depression. In addition, there is also an increased risk of stroke, as Finnish researchers stated in 2016. The risk in the week after changing the clock is higher, especially in the first two days.

Certain groups are more susceptible to time change. The risk is a quarter higher among former cancer patients and 20 percent higher among people over 65. Other studies have previously linked strokes, disturbed sleep patterns and the circadian rhythm, a biological rhythm whose cycle lasts about a day.

Abolish daylight saving time?

Changing the clock will not be abolished for the time being, but Dr. Marijke Gordijn of the University of Groningen does not mind if summer time is a thing of the past in the future. “Winter time is the original time and is the most favorable. If we were to abolish winter time, it would be dark for an extremely long time in the morning. But we humans really need that morning light,” Gordijn explains to Scientias. In 2010, another researcher argued in favor of abolishing winter time because this would be better for our health. During summer time we have more daylight and we use it more often.

Research by the RIVM also shows that it is more beneficial for Dutch public health to set standard time, or winter time, all year round. The sun rises earlier and this is better suited to human biorhythms. WeerOnline states that a happy medium is much better: changing the clock only half an hour instead of a whole hour every summer and winter.

For the time being, changing the six-monthly clock will not be abolished, but the consequences of the current arrangement must be thoroughly investigated. The government is also waiting to see what position surrounding countries will come up with, because it wants the time to remain as similar as possible to the countries around us.

By: National Healthcare Guide / Johanne Levinsky

2023-10-27 10:25:43
#transition #summer #winter #time #body

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