Daylight Saving Time and Health

I'm not looking forward to losing an hour when we go back on daylight saving time tonight, but it's really not a big deal.

I don't need time to adjust to the "spring ahead."

For various reasons at various times of the year, I lose a lot more than one hour of sleep on a given night.

Stuff happens.

From USA Today:

The time switch has mixed effects on people's health. Night owls tend to have more trouble than early birds, according to a Finnish study in 2008, but everyone's sleep patterns can be disrupted by the transition into or out of DST.

...There is a spike in heart attacks during the first week of DST, as well as a slight drop in attacks during the first week after DST ends, according to another 2008 study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers tagged the "spring forward" results to sleep deprivation, which affects heart health. Conversely, the extra hour of "fall back" sleep promotes general well-being.

I don't think losing 60 minutes of sleep on one night amounts to "sleep deprivation."

Is DST torture?

I can't imagine those lost minutes being enough to trigger a heart attack. One would have to be in extremely fragile health.

Shouldn't there be a spike in heart attacks the week after Black Friday, too?

Millions of people are out shopping in the middle of the night or at the crack of dawn, after consuming a ton of food on Thanksgiving.

Where are the studies on the "dangers" of Black Friday shopping?

I suppose the difference is that every American, except those in Hawaii and Arizona, shares in the experience of the 60 minute loss.

Every year it's the same routine: All these stories surface about the negative impact of DST on health.

Maybe Mayor Bloomberg should ban the switch to DST in NYC. The Leftists should be demanding government intervention to save us from DST syndrome.

Whatever, I'll welcome the extra daylight and I won't be whining about being tired.