Commentary on spring clock change

“The spring clock change, where we fast forward our clocks by one hour, is the clock change that is usually most disruptive to our health and wellbeing. It ‘steals’ one hour of our night and thus usually also one hour of our important night-time sleep. Sleep loss can have many negative consequences - and with the clock change, it affects millions of people at the same time! It may thus not come as a surprise that traffic accidents and also medical incidents have been shown to increase right after the spring clock change.  

“However, the clock change is not just about the one hour of lost sleep. For the months following the change, work and school schedules remain one hour earlier, and we must get up accordingly – for many, this means rising before the sun again for the next weeks, just like during the long nights of winter.  This lack of morning sunlight can make it difficult for people to adjust their body clocks to the earlier schedules. What this may mean for long-term health and wellbeing, researchers have tried to glean from time zone studies. 

“Regions in the West of a time zone, where people have to rise earlier in relation to the sun, tend to show less sleep, lower incomes, lower health, higher cancer rates and more fatal traffic accidents. Although potentially just a small increase in risk for each and every one individual, at the societal level, correct daily timing in tune with our biology and the natural light seems central to health and well-being. Chronobiologists therefore warn against the clock change to Daylight Saving Time – each spring or even permanently.”