The twice-yearly time change isn’t just an inconvenience, it may cause a variety of unfortunate health and public safety threats as our collective bodies reset to a new schedule.
Much of the research on the health effects of the time shift relate to the circadian rhythms, the body’s internal clock that, when in sync, helps people wake up, eat and sleep around the same time every day.
A 2013 study from the American Journal of Cardiology found that two Michigan hospitals saw more heart attacks in the week after “springing forward” than the two weeks before.
Preliminary research also suggests the same is true for strokes.
Finnish researchers presented a paper during the American Academy of Neurology conference in April 2015, in which they found the rate of strokes increased by 8 percent after the time change.
“Previous studies have shown that disruptions in a person's circadian rhythm, also called an internal body clock, increase the risk of ischemic stroke, so we wanted to find out if daylight saving time was putting people at risk," study author Dr. Jori Ruuskanen, of the University of Turku, in Finland, said in a statement.
To make matters worse, time shifts may trigger cluster headaches, according to Stewart Tepper, MD, headache pain specialist at the Cleveland Clinic.
For younger Americans, the biggest threat may be one less hour at a bar on a spring weekend, although Pacific Beach's Hookah Lab — one of several establishments that stay open past 2 a.m. — is ready for the disruption.
"When the time change happens, we move with it," said server Kyle Lias. "Usually it goes by smoothly when it happens."
The most widespread effect of the time change may be muddle-headed drivers.
*** Research published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that groggy drivers make the roads more dangerous on the Monday following the time change.
" Ischemic stroke is the most common kind of stroke, accounting for 87 percent of all cases. It is caused by a clot blocking blood flow to the brain.
"Previous studies have shown that disruptions in a person's circadian rhythm, also called an internal body clock, increase the risk of ischemic stroke, so we wanted to find out if daylight saving time was putting people at risk," said study author Jori Ruuskanen, MD, PhD, of the University of Turku in Turku, Finland.
For the study, researchers looked at a decade of data for stroke in Finland to find the rate of stroke. They compared the rate of stroke in 3,033 people hospitalized during the week following a daylight saving time transition to the rate of stroke in a group of 11,801 people hospitalized either two weeks before or two weeks after that week.
Researchers found that the overall rate of ischemic stroke was 8 percent higher during the first two days after a daylight saving time transition. There was no difference after two days.
People with cancer were 25 percent more likely to have a stroke after daylight saving time than during another period. The risk was also higher for those over age 65, who were 20 percent more likely to have a stroke right after the transition."
A solution may be to avoid driving on the Monday and Tuesday after the time change Sunday A.M. Workplace efficiency is probably effected as well.
As for me, I am returning to my bed for the next two days....so not call me until Wednesday
Workplace injuries also jump after the change, according to research in the Journal of Applied Psychology. And that same journal has published research that indicates the grogginess translates to more “cyberloafing” the first Monday back.
The image did not transfer to the blog well. If readers will go to the New England Journal of Medicine you will find it in mid article. Clicking on the image will enlarge and refine the image.
However the studies make a good point
*** Two days after the time change, the rate returned to normal. Cancer patients and those over the age of 65 saw the greatest increase in strokes following the time change.
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