Daylight Savings Time Increases Heart Attack Risk !
Daylight Savings Time – March 8th 2009
With the end of the winter rapidly approaching, we all look forward to lighter evenings, and the additional daylight that the start of Daylight Savings Time, which begins in the United States on March 8th 2009, brings. Around the world an additional 1.5 billion people experience the same seasonal time adjustment each year.
However, a recent scientific study conducted in Sweden, based on nearly twenty years of heart attack data from 1987 to 2006, indicates that when the clocks ’spring forward’ each year, this increases the risk of heart attack for many of us.
The research was carried out by the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden and the results were then published in the New England Journal of Medicine. These show that there is an amazing five percent increase in the heart attack statistics in the week after Daylight Savings Time begins.
Sleep Deprivation
The theory for this increase is that during the week after the time changes, most people suffer from sleep deprivation. This is compounded by the effect that a sudden time change has on the body’s sleeping patterns and daily biological rhythms.
With this in mind, you may expect a corresponding reduction in the number of heart attacks suffered during the weeks when the clocks ‘fall back’ in the autumn. However, this was not found to be the case, as the researchers discovered that a reduction in heart attacks also of five percent, only occurred on the first day following the end of daylight savings time.
DST results in reduction of sleep quality and duration
Many people find the bi-annual shift in time zones difficult to adjust to, and suffer a reduction in sleep quality and sleep duration, similar to that experienced with jet lag, only semi-permanent. There is a growing volume of evidence that suggests that this may have detrimental effects on our cardiovascular health.
However in the spring, the time change usually results in an hour of missed sleep, and also disrupts the body’s biological rhythms. Contrast this with the fall, when the end of Daylight savings Time combines a biological disruption, with an opportunity to GAIN some sleep, and this may counter the negative effects of the transition.
Monday most dangerous day of the week for heart attacks
It is also interesting to note that Monday is the day of the week that has been proven to be the most dangerous day of the week, and the most likely for suffering from a heart attack. This is most likely to be a combination of two factors – during Friday and Saturday nights most people tend to go to sleep later, and get up later the following morning. However this means that often they will go to sleep later on Sunday as well, but have to rise earlier on the Monday morning to go to work. This causes them to suffer from sleep deprivation. This is combined on Monday morning with a sudden increase in activity and stress related to the week ahead. This is made even worse during the week of the Daylight Savings Time change, and may account for the statistical increase in the heart attack rate.
March 21st, 2009 at 7:18 am
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