Abandoning the semi-annual switch to daylight savings time could prevent over 300,000 strokes and reduce over 2 million obesity cases per year, a new model using data from over 300 million Americans suggests.
Adopting permanent standard time (ST) results in less circadian rhythms, a rough 24-hour pacemaker in the body than summer savings (DST), or less than turning over time policies twice a year, researchers found.
You might like it
“We can’t propose public policy without data,” Jamie Zitzer, a research co-author who is a professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at Stanford University, told Live Science. Data from the study indicate “the beginning of a conversation,” he said.
Time for change?
The DST, which moves the clock to an hour in the spring, was first introduced in the United States in 1918, saving fuel during World War I.
Our circadian rhythm regulates and regulates the function of each cell in the body. This internal pacemaker is very sensitive to mild exposures, creating a “circadian burden” associated with measurable increases in negative health attacks, such as heart attacks, strokes, and car accidents during switchovers, if people have to keep awake or stay awake during dark times.
Sleep deprivation and circadian burden are also metabolic stressors associated with reduced energy expenditure and reduced excess food intake. This is a risk factor for weight gain and obesity. Therefore, the position of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine is to completely discard the DST and stick to the ST forever. Zeitzer said that the health risks of younger switching are low for individuals, but the impact is significant at the population level.
“You really see the risks of lottery tickets, but if 350 million people are doing it on the same day, someone will win the lottery,” Zeitzer told Live Science. “[It’s] It’s not something you want to win. ”
To model the health effects of discrepancies between circadian rhythms and the environment, Zeitzer, a bioengineer at Stanford University and colleague Laraweed, calculated the circadian burden associated with each time policy: permanent ST, permanent DST, and two six-month shifts.
To do this, they simulated artificial light and sunlight exposure for all US counties over the course of a year, based on all time policies. They had envisioned a regular sleep routine (10pm to 7am) and a regular work schedule in a bright office (Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm).
You might like it
The team found that flicking between time policies every other year causes the greatest disruption of the circadian clock and thus the greatest circadian burden.
The researchers then used data on county-level prevalence of chronic disease to determine how different circadian loads predicted eight health outcomes: arthritis, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coronary heart disease, depression, diabetes, obesity, and stroke. They managed a variety of socioeconomic and health factors that could determine the prevalence of the disease, including hypertension, health insurance status, and unemployment.
Sticking to ST prevents approximately 2,602,866 cases of obesity and 306,988 stroke cases. Persistent DST prevents obesity and strokes lower, with fewer predicted obesity cases of 1,705,437, with an average of 220,092 fewer strokes.
Their model found that neither policy made a statistically meaningful reduction in the other six health outcomes.
However, this study was based on simulations that included intentionally unrealistic assumptions, such as universal regular light exposure and sleep, and did not take into account seasonal variations in behavior. Furthermore, the health outcome dataset relied on self-reported information such as body mass index (BMI) and past strokes.
Karin Johnson, a professor of neurology at the UMass Chan School of Medicine-Baystate and a spokesman for the American Academy who was not involved in the study, did not include race in the model despite persistent racial and ethnic disparities during sleep in the US.
However, that means that an increased risk of stroke and obesity is likely to be felt most sharply by people [namely, Black and Hispanic or Latino populations] It “already there is a risk of sleep disparity from other causes,” Johnson told Live Science in an email.
Source link
