Daylight saving time ends in Europe this weekend, but experts warn the time change could be harmful to your health

In several European countries, clocks go back an hour earlier on Sunday, marking the end of daylight saving time.

This seasonal time change occurs twice a year. In the spring, it switches to daylight saving time (DST), when clocks move forward one hour, and returns to standard time in the fall.

Although the time change has been a standardized practice for years and is common in most of Europe and the United States, as well as parts of Canada, Australia and Latin America, health experts warn that it could be harmful to people's well-being.

Earlier this week, a team of sleep researchers from the British Sleep Society released a statement calling on the British government to scrap the twice-yearly time change.

The opinion, published in the Journal of Sleep Research, advocates adopting standard time year-round because it better corresponds to “the natural light-dark cycles of day and night.”

“Restoring permanent standard time would mean our clocks would be closely aligned with solar time, and although this would result in earlier sunsets in the summer, there would be additional health benefits from improved sleep and circadian alignment due to increased exposure to morning sunlight from autumn to spring,” Malcolm von Schantz, professor of chronobiology at Northumbria University and member of the Northumbria Center for Sleep Research, said in a statement.

The researchers added that maintaining a good sleep routine and exposure to natural daylight in the morning are important components of human health, and disruptions in any of these factors could lead to negative health effects.

“If you're not exposed to light in the morning, you're not regulating your body clock as well as you could, and there's really a specific time in the morning when you need that light exposure to regulate your body clock “allows you to fall asleep early enough at night,” said Dr. Megan Crawford, lecturer in psychology at the University of Strathclyde and lead author of the statement, told Euronews Health.

“If you don't do that, you're kind of burning the candle at both ends, and then you lose sleep at night, the sleep quality is poor, and poor sleep quality has many causes of health outcomes, both mental and physical health,” added them added.

What are the health effects of daylight saving time?

A main reason why experts support the abolition of seasonal time changes is their impact on people's circadian rhythms.

The circadian rhythm is the body's biological clock that works on a 24-hour cycle and, according to researchers, plays a role in regulating essential body functions such as sleep, hormone secretion, metabolism and mood.

The disruption caused by gaining or losing an hour of sleep disrupts the natural sleep cycle and impairs these functions.

Crawford explained that while the time change “doesn't really make a difference” in the summer when sunrises are still very early, the same doesn't apply in other seasons.

“In spring and autumn, the sunrise is a little later. So if we get up an hour earlier, we might get up in the dark. And that's really problematic because we need morning sunlight to regulate our body clock and ensure optimal sleep,” she said.

Well-timed light exposure keeps the circadian cycle aligned with the 24-hour day, as morning light promotes natural awakening and enables early sleep in the evening, the statement said.

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However, the nighttime light exposure that can occur during the time difference makes it difficult to fall asleep and wake up on time.

Several scientific studies have also found evidence of increased adverse health effects following the time difference.

For example, a meta-analysis based on seven studies with more than 100,000 participants found that there was a significantly higher risk of heart attacks in the weeks following the daylight saving time change in spring and fall.

Another study by researchers in Finland found that hospitalizations for stroke increased in the first two days after the time change.

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Research has also linked it to increases in mental health and mood disorders, particularly among vulnerable people, including a rise in suicide rates in the weeks following the start of daylight saving time.

Crawford attributed resistance to ending the time change to a “lack of understanding” and emphasized that the benefits of longer evening daylight hours in the summer would remain regardless of whether daylight saving time is used.

“A lot of people think that daylight saving time will give them more sunlight or more daylight, but that's not going to change. The sun won’t change just because we change our schedules.”

Europe's attitude to summer time

In 2018, the European Commission proposed abolishing the twice-yearly time difference in the European Union.

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As part of the proposal, it also conducted an online consultation to gauge EU citizens' views on the issue.

Support for abolishing the time change was high, ranging from 95 percent in Poland and Finland to 44 percent in Greece.

Responses showed that an overwhelming majority of respondents supported the placement End of practicewith an average of 84 percent of people across the EU supporting change.

However, while the European Parliament voted to adopt the change, the European Council did not agree to it and the transition to daylight saving time continued.

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