The clocks sprang forward this weekend, and if you feel like it’s not good for you there’s a professor of neurology and pediatrics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center that agrees with you. Dr. Beth Ann Malow, the director of Vanderbilt’s sleep division, says that changing to daylight saving time is linked to some pretty serious health problems, including:
- An increased risk of strokes
- An increased risk of heart attacks
- Teen sleep deprivation
Dr. Malow says a study showed that people living on the western edge of a time zone are affected even worse by the change, giving them higher rates of :
- Obesity
- Diabetes
- Heart disease
- Breast cancer
The exact reasons why this happens aren’t yet known, but scientists think it could be due to light’s effects on increasing levels of cortisol. It’s not just the scientists that want to see daylight saving time go away, either; 63% of people in a recent poll would like to do away with it completely and stick to standard time all year long.
Source: Metro