For a week, the time in which we sleep may diverge from the schedule of our social life. We go back an hour and into the natural rhythm of nature. The world’s sleep authorities recommend it as a permanent choice. Asked by the European Parliament, 84% of those who took part in the survey declared themselves against the change of spring and autumn time
On the night of October 27, Bulgaria switches from summer to winter time for the 45th time. The transition is now the lesser of two evils, because we enter the rhythm of nature, regulated by sunlight, and according to this schedule, called the circadian rhythm, our organism also works.
The time according to the sun best corresponds to our internal clock. Since the dawn of humanity, it has defined our mode of life and is permanently embedded in our genes. The human biological clock is regulated by the hours of light and darkness – day and night – according to which the body adjusts for activity or sleep. In modern life, the time of exposure to light is strongly related to the social clock.
The difference between standard time and daylight saving time messes up the biological clock, and hundreds of studies have shown that this is associated with physical and mental health and safety risks, as well as public health risks. In the days of the spring transition, heart attacks, strokes, serious accidents and accidents increase. With the autumn readjustment, the main inconvenience is that if we are used to going to bed at 11 p.m., in a week we will fall asleep at 10 p.m. at the “new” time. And in the morning we will probably wake up before the alarm. Is it a big problem?
Asked by the European Parliament in 2018, 84% of the Europeans who took part in the survey declared themselves against the change of spring and autumn time. A year later, MEPs voted to end the practice after 2021. Nothing came of it. Formally, because the countries did not choose whether they wanted only a summer or only a winter clock, but also despite the panic of the pandemic and wars.
Sleep associations around the world passionately support the clear benefits of standard time. By increasing exposure to light in the evening, daylight saving time significantly slows down the body’s production of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin, leading to later bedtimes and shorter sleep duration.
A report by the European Society for Sleep Research says that the greater the difference between solar time and clock time (social, clock time, also called solar lag), the shorter the sleep duration.
Chronic sleep loss is associated with an increased risk of many health problems, including diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and depression. Children are particularly affected, points out the British Sleep Society. Because puberty causes the brain to release melatonin later at night, adolescents are super-vulnerable to the effects of daylight saving time and the social pressure to get up unnaturally early for their internal clock.
In 2020, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine also published a position paper advocating for the elimination of daylight saving time. It also proposes the adoption of year-round “winter” – that is, standard, time.