Throughout the country, Sunday morning, a familiar scene will be played: millions of people will wake up in a groggy shock while they turn around and look at their clocks, wondering why they feel so tired or how they managed to sleep so late.
The culprit: the summer time, the failure by our annual ritual of “sillant in front” an hour, which will occur Sunday at 2 a.m.
But the repercussions go beyond a few slow mornings – the savings time of the day can have serious consequences for personal and public health, ranging from accidents to aggravated mood disorders to heart attacks. The Mercury News asked sleep experts to explain what time for savings time does our health and why and to give their advice to soften the stroke of fixing our clocks.
The time of reduction of the day was initially introduced in the United States as an energy saving measure in wartime during the First World War and again during the Second World War, with the idea that citizens would use natural light instead of burning precious energy on the inner front. California adopted the measure in 1949, then in 1966, the Congress signed daylight, codifying our annual time changes.
Although farmers often get blame for the moment lost, there is little evidence that they were the cause. In fact, the American Farm Bureau has devoted several publications to “put the records on the right”, noting that farmers were among the most vocal criticisms of time.
“All the farm animals, they do not care about what the clock says,” said Jennifer Martin, former president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, sleep researcher at the UCLA and self -proclaimed member of an agricultural family. “The advantages are very theoretical … but the damage, however, are not only theoretical.”
The spring is associated with all kinds of negative results. Studies have underlined a real smorgasbord of training effects, including an increase in car accidents, heart attacks, brain vascular accidents and potential negative effects on blood pressure and, more obviously, sleep. Martin says that these effects aggravate the symptoms of mental health for those who suffer from depression and anxiety and make things more difficult even for those who have no mood disorder.
These drawbacks can be particularly difficult for adolescents, who naturally need more sleep and tend to sleep later, and can also have a greater effect on the elderly, those who are already deprived of sleep and those working at night. Places such as the Bay region which are at the western end of the time zone are particularly affected, because the sun rises later compared to other places in the time zone.
The surprising range of drawbacks occurs because our body – and those of many animals, plants and even bacteria – are complex linked to the night day cycle, explains Carrie Partch, a scientist who studies the circadian rhythm at the University of California in Santa Cruz. More than a billion years of evolutionary history has woven the circadian rhythm in the fabric of our biology, affecting almost all aspects of our body since the moment when our metabolism works better on the functioning of our immune systems and beyond.
Although humans vary in the exact sleep needs, we have a symphony of biological systems that work together to ensure that we are alert and that we can face the challenges we face when the sun is lifted, then to rest and relax at night, explains Partch. So playing with this rhythm can have deep consequences.
“When you go to daylight, you reversed the pattern. You exchange morning light with evening light. So it makes no sense for us, “said Rafael Pelayo, sleep specialist at Stanford Medicine. “We are a country deprived of sleep to start. We don’t have an hour to lose.
Although some research suggests that we can fully adapt in a week or two, others suggest that because of this inadequacy, we never completely adapt to change.
So, with biology against us, is there a chance for sleeping citizens? Erin e Flynn-Evans thinks.
Flynn-Evans heads the NASA Research Center fatigue laboratory near Palo Alto. Part of his work is to do research to help astronauts adapt to sleep well in space, where there is no day cycle.
“It is actually a place where the space research we do is really useful for us living here on the surface of the earth,” said Flynn-Evans.
She recommends starting the day with a brighter and blueer light. In the absence of an earlier sun, these lights help to point out that it is time to be awake, despite the discomfort of the light lights when we sleep. On the other hand, a warmer and warmer light towards the end of the day can help prepare our body to fall asleep at night. In general, she argues that maintaining good sleep hygiene – sleeping at a regular point and having a fresh, dark and calm sleep environment – can all help.
“It really makes a difference to help improve sleep,” she said.
Other experts interviewed recommend keeping in mind that the first days will be particularly difficult, avoiding something “criticism of the mission” if possible during the first days and keeping in mind that everyone will be a little more asleep and perhaps more grumpy when they adapt.
Experts have spoken universally against summer time, and their personal opinions align with recommendations from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the National Sleep Foundation as well as multiple European medical commissions which are competing for the change of time and to stick to the standard time.
In California, the legislative assembly could technically get rid of summer time – or standard time, with the help of the congress – with a 2/3 vote, following the success of a 2018 proposal approved by almost 60% of California voters. Since then, no bill has succeeded in obtaining the necessary support either, although the senator of the State Roger Niello has introduced a resolution this year, SB 51, asking the Legislative Assembly to progress towards “the legislation linked to the permanent implementation of standard time”.
“I think it’s probably the best advice. When bills come to your state to get rid of summer time, write to your elected officials and encourage them to support invoices to remain in permanent standard time, “said Martin.
In the meantime, we can do our best to adapt to change and sometimes take advantage of it.
“Even by knowing the costs as a scientist, part of me always appreciates it when the sun sets a little later,” said Partch. “We, humans, do all kinds of things that we know that we are bad for us. Summer time is just another thing on a long list. »»
Originally published:
California Daily Newspapers
