While Daylight Saving Time seems odd and does not have anything to do with our health, some claim it actually does. This past weekend, we left the Daylight Saving Time period and entered into the regular time when we moved our clocks back an hour.
One has to wonder, how could moving a clock back one hour affect our bodies? It comes down to one thing: Internal Circadian Rhythm.
It is claimed that between March and November, the body gets less morning light and more evening light. That can throw off one’s circadian rhythm. This means when we move our clocks forward in the Spring, we’re throwing our body off of its normal rhythm, according to people within the Neurology and Sleep Medicine communities.
The Daylight Savings Time Wall
While the United States has introduced a bill that would effectively end moving back an hour, many within the medical community are against this idea. If anything, they’d rather it stay at the same time we’re at from November through April due to it being our natural clock.
Studies over the last 25 years have found that the one-hour change disrupts body rhythm tuned to the Earth’s rotation. This is one reason many believe changing the clocks in any form should be ended. When our internal clock is offset from solar day-night cycles by even an hour, we develop “social jet lag.”
This actually increases the possibility of metabolic disorders like diabetes, heart disease/stroke, heightened depression, and mood change. Along with digestive and endocrine system disruption. That is not even touching the sleep issues it causes it causes. Heck, this can even reduce life expectancy.
The Real Thing To Consider
While there is clearly a problem with the idea of changing clocks off and on, the issue is not technically with either time. The problem is changing clocks at all, which is why several countries and even some U.S. States have already stopped doing it. They kept to the “Spring Forward” time.
While these experts claim that the time we just entered is closer to our internal circadian rhythm, this does not matter. Our bodies adapt to change, that is what human evolution is all about. As a result, it will stick to whatever time we’re permanently moved to.
This means it does not matter what time we stick to. What truly matters is that we do not keep going backward or forward one hour each year. Stopping that would be great for everyone’s health overall, which is something we can all believe in.