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from the sun-is-the-same-in-a-relative-way dept.
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
A group of researchers in the UK affiliated with the BSS (British Sleep Society) published a paper this week calling for the permanent abolition of Daylight Saving Time (DST) and adherence to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), in large part because modern evidence suggests having that extra hour of sunlight in the evenings is worse for our health than we thought back in the 1970s when the concept was all the rage in Europe.
Not only does GMT more closely align with the natural day/light cycle in the UK, the boffins assert, but decades of research into sleep and circadian rhythms have been produced since DST was enacted that have yet to be considered.
The human circadian rhythm, the 24-hour cycle our bodies go through, drives a lot about our health beyond sleep. It regulates hormone release, gene expression, metabolism, mood (who isn't grumpier when waking up in January?), and the like. In short, it's important. Messing with that rhythm by forcing ourselves out of bed earlier for several months out of the year can have lasting effects, the researchers said.
According to their review of recent research, having light trigger our circadian rhythms in the mornings to wake us up is far more important than an extra hour of light in the evenings. In fact, contrary to the belief that an extra hour of light in the evenings is beneficial, it might actually cause health problems by, again, mucking about with the human body's understanding of what time it is and how we ought to feel about it.
"Disruption of the daily synchronization of our body clocks causes disturbances in our physiology and behavior … which leads to negative short and long-term physical and mental health outcomes," the authors said.
That, and we've just plain fooled ourselves into thinking it benefits us in any real way.
[...] And for the love of sleep, the researchers beg, don't spring forward permanently.
"Mornings are the time when our body clocks have the greatest need for light to stay in sync," said Dr Megan Crawford, lead author and senior lecturer in psychology at University of Strathclyde. "At our latitudes there is simply no spare daylight to save during the winter months and given the choice between natural light in the morning and natural light in the afternoon, the scientific evidence favors light in the morning."
(Score: 4, Informative) by Mykl on Wednesday October 30 2024, @10:54PM (3 children)
I find it strange that this group is claiming such severe adverse health effects from following Daylight Saving. Most of us recognise that we get an 'extra' hour of sunlight in the evenings, but that's not the original purpose.
Prior to the Industrial Era (i.e. all of human history minus about 200 years), accurate timekeeping was a curiosity. Most people got up at dawn and went to bed when it was dark. In winter that would mean waking up later and going to bed earlier, and in summer it would mean waking up earlier and going to bed later (depending on how far away from the Equator you live, the number of 'waking hours' of pre-industrial people could vary dramatically between Summer and Winter).
Once we started waking to the clock, our body rhythms started changing significantly. Nowadays it might be possible to get up before dawn in winter, but an hour or more after dawn in summer. Curtains and blinds were needed to help us sleep according to clock time and not daylight hours, but they're not 100% effective at fooling your body (you can still hear birds chirp, some light comes through etc).
Enforcing Daylight Savings in summer actually brings your clock (and your waking time) back 1 hour closer to dawn than it otherwise would be - in effect putting you closer to the natural pre-Industrial Era rhythm. The side effect of that is more light in the evening.
So, how does helping to align our waking cycle closer to the natural rhythm of daylight create such health issues? You'd have to ask the BSS I guess.
(Score: 2) by aafcac on Thursday October 31 2024, @12:47AM (1 child)
An extra hour is meaningless when that hour is spent on your commute. I'd rather have that hour in the morning when the light is more valuable than in the afternoon when I'm already awake. Around here, it doesn't matter whether you shift the hour ahead or back, you're going to spend nearly all the available daylight while you're at work either way, but at least without daylight saving time, you don't get that interruption to the sleep patterns that comes with trying to move light around.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Thursday October 31 2024, @03:30AM
I think there are many factors, such as whether you're a "morning person" or evening / night owl, what your interests are, what your daylight needs are, and where you live in your timezone. I will always wish for more light later in the day. I have much outdoor work to do, including lawn mowing, leaf collection, etc. Even if I was a morning person, not only would my neighbors hate me and call the police, but it's against township rules to make noise before 8 AM.
Public parks and trails officially close at sunset, so again, if you want to do outdoor recreation but you work full-time, the clock change will cut off much of that activity. Yes, some people are morning people and do those things early. But not everyone is.
Also, I'm on the eastern size of my timezone, so I'm already getting less light later in the day.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Thursday October 31 2024, @12:21PM
Mostly because too many people have bosses that will blow their stack if they come in 5 minutes late. So rather than adjusting the sleep/wake cycle over a span of 4 months, it must be done overnight (literally).