Daylight savings time can be dangerous

Mar 14, 2011

Daylight Saving Time begins Sunday, March 13, but a word of caution. Studies have found that losing an hour can be hazardous for your health.

On average, people go to work or school on the first Monday of after sleeping 40 fewer minutes than normal. Researchers have reported there's a higher risk of heart attacks, traffic accidents and workplace injuries on the first Monday of Daylight Saving Time.

"Many people already are chronically sleep-deprived, and Daylight Saving Time can make them even more tired for a few days," said Dr. Nidhi Undevia, medical director of the Program at Loyola University Health System.

Undevia offers these tips for coping with Daylight Saving Time:

-- In the days before the time change, go to bed and wake up 10 or 15 minutes earlier each day.

-- Don't nap on the Saturday before the time change.

-- To help reset your internal body clock, expose yourself to sunlight in the morning as early as you can.

Explore further: Women with severe injuries are less likely than men to be treated in a trauma center

add to favorites email to friend print save as pdf

Related Stories

Ease into daylight savings time

Oct 01, 2010

With winter now behind us and the longer days of summer looming comes the annual switch to daylight saving time.

Daylight time: Gimmick or good idea?

Jul 27, 2005

Daylight saving time stirs controversy: supporters claim it saves energy, opponents say it disrupts international travel and is dangerous for children.

Recommended for you

Report reveals impact of public injecting

4 hours ago

New research undertaken on the streets of Richmond and Abbotsford has revealed increasing health risks for people who inject drugs and significant community concern over the impact of injecting in public ...

ER docs are key to reducing health care costs

9 hours ago

Emergency physicians are key decisionmakers for nearly half of all hospital admissions, highlighting a critical role they can play in reducing health care costs, according to a new report from the RAND Corporation.

User comments : 0

More news stories

FDA has safety concerns on Merck insomnia drug

Federal health regulators say an experimental insomnia drug from Merck can help patients fall asleep, but it also carries worrisome side effects, including daytime drowsiness and suicidal thinking.

Computer model predicts when viruses become infectious

A new computer model could help scientists predict when a particular strain of avian influenza might become infectious from bird to human, according to a report to be published in the International Journal Data Mining an ...

Slow earthquakes: It's all in the rock mechanics

(Phys.org) —Earthquakes that last minutes rather than seconds are a relatively recent discovery, according to an international team of seismologists. Researchers have been aware of these slow earthquakes, ...

Goldman Sachs to invest in Japan green energy

US investment banking giant Goldman Sachs said Monday it will start investing in Japanese renewable energy projects, with a reported $2.9 billion outlay over the next five years.