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The time change may give us an extra hour of sleep, but it can also affect our health and safety. Studies show this.
Hamm – On October 27th we will once again have to switch from summer to winter time. This means that we can sleep an hour longer, but we also have to turn on the light in the living room an hour earlier. In March we will switch back to summer time. Ukraine plans to abolish this time change from 2025 for health reasons.
Strokes and heart attacks: Time changes can have serious consequences for your health
The change from winter to summer time can have particularly negative effects. It disrupts our body’s 24-hour rhythm, also known as circadian rhythm, forcing it to follow an unnatural schedule until the clocks change back to winter time on October 27th.
Time change “messes up the system in a way”
“You can get used to the sleep loss in a few days, but from a circadian standpoint, you’re really out of sync the whole time,” Beth Malow, professor of neurology and sleep disorders expert, explains BuzzFeed News US about the change to summer time. She adds that the time change “confuses the system in a way that a simple time zone change wouldn’t.”
A study shows the increase in heart attacks after the time change (symbolic image). © Shotshop/Imago
Researchers from a society for biological rhythms agree that the change to daylight saving time affects our sleep. It can cause short-term insomnia, daytime sleepiness, irritability, lack of energy and difficulty thinking clearly.
US scientists found that the number of heart attacks increased by 24 percent over a three-year period on the Mondays following the start of daylight saving time compared to other Mondays of the year. An analysis of hospital data from the DAK health insurance company revealed a similar picture: Normally, an average of 45 people suffer an acute heart attack every day, but on the three days after the change to summer time the figure is 54 – an increase of 20 percent.
More strokes and higher risk of accidents after the time change
The US researchers concluded that daylight saving time affects the timing of heart attacks, but not the overall frequency. The abrupt changes in sleep-wake cycles and increased stress at the start of a new work week could cause people to suffer a heart attack that they otherwise would have had at a later date.
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Stroke rates also increased after the switch to daylight saving time, a Finnish study shows. In the two days after daylight saving time began, the stroke rate among hospitalized patients was eight percent higher than in the two weeks before and after.
There is also evidence of a connection between daylight saving time and an increase in traffic accidents, which could be due to tired drivers. A study that analyzed data from car accidents in the United States over a 21-year period found that about 28 additional fatal traffic accidents occurred in the workweek following the daylight saving time change. The ADAC also warns that the risk of accidents involving wildlife increases in spring with the time change, as the morning rush hour then falls at dusk.
In 2018, the EU Commission proposed abolishing the time change that was reintroduced in 1980. However, it is still unclear whether and when this will happen. On the one hand, this is due to the large European time zone, which extends from western Spain to the eastern border of Poland, and, on the other hand, to the fact that a uniform summer or winter or standard time would have to be agreed upon. The European Parliament supported the Commission’s proposal in March 2019. It is now up to the member states to find a common position in the Council.
