In Case You Missed it: Daylight Savings

Photo: "Exploding Clock" Salvadore Dali

Spring Ahead...Fall Back.

This weekend marks Daylight Savings time-that once yearly practice of advancing clocks so that evenings have more daylight and mornings have less. I don't know about you, but I could give this ritual up in the blink of an eye. 

The practice of daylight saving was first proposed in 1895 & implemented during World War I. It has generally remained in use in North America and Europe since after the energy crisis of the 1970s.

The original goal of DST was to reduce evening usage of lights/electricity, but modern heating and cooling usage patterns vary, and research about how and if DST affects energy use is contradictory. 

Those of us with families know how DST can disrupt morning activities. There are many that feel that the act of changing clocks twice a year is economically and socially disruptive and cancels out any benefit. ( I would be one of them.) In addition, Seasonal Affective Disorder and other health problems may arise:

• Clock shifts disrupt sleep and reduce its efficiency. [BMC Physiology. 2008;8:3.]
• Effects on seasonal adaptation of the circadian rhythm can be severe and last for weeks. [Biological Rhythm Research. 2003;34(2):145–155.]
•  A 2008 study found that although male suicide rates rise in the weeks after the spring transition, the relationship weakened greatly after adjusting for season. [Sleep and Biological Rhythms. 2008;6(1):22–25]
• A 2008 Swedish study found that heart attacks were significantly more common the first three weekdays after the spring transition, and significantly less common the first weekday after the autumn transition. [ New England Journal of Medicine. 2008;359(18):1966–1968.]
• The government of Kazakhstan cited health complications due to clock shifts as a reason for abolishing DST in 2005.[Kazakhstan Today. 2005-03-16.]
• In March 2011, Dmitri Medvedev, president of Russia, claimed that "stress of changing clocks" were the motivation for Russia to stay in DST all year long. Officials at the time talked about an annual increase in suicides.  [BBC News, 30 Oct. 2011]

So, as you prepare to set your clocks forward one hour this weekend, take a look at some tips offered on how to minimize the adjustment:



Ease Your Way into Daylight Savings Time

Daylight Savings Tips

Harvard Professor Explains Health Risks of Daylight Savings

5 Home Remedies for Seasonal Affective Disorder

Easing the Effects of Daylight Savings Time on Kids With Autism

Spring has Sprung-and So Might Your Hypomania

Small Shifts in Diurnal Rhythms are Associated with an Increase in Suicide

Contact: barbara@bodylogique.com



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