Physical Wellness

Daylight Saving Time Found To Affect Health, Research Say [VIDEO]

By Alleah Kiamco | Update Date: Mar 14, 2017 10:21 AM EDT

The Daylight Saving Time is a system that automatically extends daylight hours to lessen the use of electricity. A 2016 study shows that this shift significantly raises the occurrence of health issues.

This year, the Daylight Saving Time (DTS) started last Sunday, 12th of March at 2 a.m. and sets the clocks one hour ahead of the actual time. This system will end on November 5 at 2 a.m. also, which sets the clocks one hour back. Benjamin Franklin started this idea of saving electricity use by extending daylight hours back in 1784 and on 1966, the Uniform Time Act was established for a uniformity of the system in the United States, according to the CNN.

A recent research reveals that stroke cases were 8 percent higher, two days after the implementation of the DTS. 25 percent of cancer patients and older people in their 60-65-year-old age range are 20 percent vulnerable in having a stroke too. The study compared stroke cases in 3,000 hospitalized patients a week after the transition and the 11,000 stroke cases recorded a week after and before the daylight shift.

Stroke is not the only highlighted issue of daylight saving. Monday and Tuesday after the shift, there's also a reported 10 percent increase of heart attack records in a study of the University of Alabama. The National Sleep Foundation celebrates Sleep Awareness Week in March to help people notice health effects in the time transition and to aid the combat of the Daylight Saving Time health issues.

A University of Washington Associate Professor of Management said that when time is changed by an hour, it disrupts circadian processes in our body. Christopher Barnes, a researcher on the impacts of sleep deprivation cited research studies that when an annual hour-reduction of sleep has been linked with injuries and auto incidents in the U.S, the Reuters reported.

At the time being, 70 countries practice Daylight Saving and are at a higher risk of sleep deprivation and various health problems caused by the change of time. Health associations are constantly on the move in finding other issues related to this annual clock-shift for public information and knowledge.

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