Permanent Daylight Saving Time W Harm Our Health, Experts Say.: This Is What Professionals Do– The end of daylight saving time is upon us again, a fall tradition when the United States, Europe, most of Canada, and many other countries set their clocks back an hour in the Groundhog Day confidence dip. , We will pursue them (again) next spring when governments restore daylight saving time. (Permanent Daylight Saving Time Will Harm Our Health, Experts Say)
But are we relying on an unhealthy and outdated idea?
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Not according to the US Senate, which passed the Sun Protection Act 2021 in March: If it becomes law, daylight saving time will be permanent.
“Calls to end the archaic practice of changing the clock are gaining momentum across the country,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who introduced the bill to the US Senate for the first time. USA, in a statement. The Florida legislature voted to make daylight saving time permanent in Florida in 2018, but it may not take effect unless it is also a federal law. (Permanent Daylight Saving Time Will Harm Our Health, Experts Say)
The bill still has to go through the US House of Representatives and be signed into law by the president. If or when this happens, we will set our clocks forward and leave them at that, permanently one hour ahead of the Sun.
However, a growing number of sleep experts say that the act of turning our clocks forward in the spring is ruining our health. Studies over the past 25 years have shown that a change of one hour disrupts the body’s rhythm in line with Earth’s rotation, adding fuel to the debate as to whether saving daylight in any form is a good thing. Good idea. (Permanent Daylight Saving Time Will Harm Our Health, Experts Say)
“I’m one of many sleep experts who knows this is a bad idea,” said Dr. Elizabeth Klerman, a professor of neurology in the division of sleep medicine at Harvard Medical School.
“Your biological clock sticks with (natural) light, not the clock on your wall,” Klerman said. “And there’s no evidence that your body completely changes over time.”
D., director of the Center for Sleep and Circadian Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Evanston, Illinois. Phyllis Zee also opposes daylight saving time.
“Between March and November, your body gets less morning light and more evening light, which can disturb your circadian rhythm,” he said.
Xie said that standard time, which we enter when we turn back our clocks in the fall, is very close to the Sun’s day-night cycle. This cycle has marked our circadian rhythm, or biological clock, for centuries.
That internal timer regulates not only when you sleep, but also when you want to eat, exercise, or work out, as well as “your blood pressure, your heart rate, and your cortisol rhythm.”
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine called for a ban on daylight saving time altogether: “Current evidence best supports the adoption of standard time throughout the year, which better aligns with human circadian biology and has specific health benefits.” and provides public safety.”
The proposal has been endorsed by more than 20 medical, scientific and civic organizations, including the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, the National Association of Parents and Teachers, the National Safety Council, the Society for Research in Biological Rhythm and the World Sleep. community. , (Permanent Daylight Saving Time Will Harm Our Health, Experts Say)
What is the loss?
When our internal clocks are off the solar day-night cycle by even an hour, we develop what sleep experts call “social jet lag.” Studies have shown that social jet lag increases the risk of metabolic disorders such as diabetes, increases the risk of heart disease and stroke, worsens mood disorders such as depression, affects the digestive and endocrine systems, and improves the ability to dream. duration is reduced. It can also reduce life expectancy,
A 2003 study found that getting one hour less sleep for two weeks had the same effect on thinking and motor skills as not sleeping two full nights. According to another study, reducing the recommended 7 to 8 hours of sleep by 90 minutes for adults alters the DNA of immune cells and increases inflammation, a major cause of chronic disease. (Permanent Daylight Saving Time Will Harm Our Health, Experts Say)
Making the time change permanent will make the chronic effects of any sleep deprivation more severe, not only because “we have to go to work an hour earlier for an additional 5 months every year, but also because our body clocks often are slow.” winter than summer. With reference to the solarium,” according to a statement from the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms.
“The combination of the schedule d e summer and winter would, therefore, worsen the difference between body clocks and social clock and affect our health even more negatively,” the authors concluded.
Why did the Senate pass the bill?
There are several reasons why the US Senate unanimously passed the Sunlight Protection Act. Advocates say the extra daylight at night reduces car accidents and crime, and increases opportunities for commerce and entertainment, as people choose to shop and exercise during the day.
However, research has shown that both heart attacks and fatal car accidents increase once the clock turns in the spring. Goes. Gram Children also go to school in the morning, when it is dark, with disastrous consequences.
When President Richard Nixon signed a permanent daylight saving time law in January 1974, it was a popular move. But at the end of the month, Florida’s governor called for the law to be repealed after eight schoolchildren were hit by cars in the dark. Schools across the country pushed back start times until the sun rose.
By the summer, public approval had waned, and in early October, Congress voted to return to Standard Time.
A similar reaction occurred when the US first implemented Daylight Saving Time in 1918 as a way to reduce demand for electricity use by adding sunlight at the end of the day in response to World War I. (Studies conducted since then have found little or no cost savings from the practice.) The time switch was so unpopular that the law was repealed the following year.
“The United States has tried Permanent Daylight Saving Time twice before and ended it first. The UK tried it once before and ended it early. Russia tried it once, so did India and it was over quickly.” “I think we should learn from history.”
