A recent study led by the University of Bristol has uncovered that Daylight Saving Time transitions significantly influence sleep patterns, albeit briefly. The research emphasizes the importance of considering these effects when evaluating future policies on time changes.
In an eye-opening new study, researchers led by the University of Bristol have determined that the transition into and out of Daylight Saving Time has a noteworthy, albeit short-lived, impact on people’s sleep.
The study, published in the Journal of Sleep Research, utilized sleep data from activity monitors worn by 11,800 individuals across the 2013-2015 Daylight Saving Time changes. These participants were part of the UK Biobank, a large-scale biomedical database.
The findings revealed that on the Sunday when clocks move forward in spring, individuals lost about an hour of sleep compared to the surrounding Sundays. Conversely, when clocks move back in autumn, the participants did not gain the full expected hour of sleep; they only managed an extra half-hour.
Interestingly, the effect on sleep differed between men and women throughout the week following the clock changes.
Men generally compensated by sleeping more during the weekdays, especially after the spring shift. Women, however, seemed to struggle more, often getting less sleep during the week after the clock changes.
These gender differences could stem from higher levels of insomnia and sleep difficulties that women face, exacerbated by the time changes.
Melanie de Lange, a doctoral student in the Bristol Medical School: Population Health Sciences (PHS) and MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, emphasizes the broader implications of these findings.
“With a growing number of countries — including the United States and those in the EU — moving to end the clock changes, the practice of daylight saving time is the focus of much current debate,” de Lange said in a news release. “Our study adds to the growing body of evidence that the shift forward to daylight saving time in spring is associated with an acute loss of sleep, which has implications for the health of the UK population.”
One of the critical concerns is that even one night of lost sleep can detrimentally affect mental and physical health. De Lange’s team’s research aligns with existing findings that the biannual clock changes could lead to increased incidences of heart attacks, strokes, traffic accidents and depression.
Given these health risks, de Lange advocates for careful consideration of the impacts of clock changes in any future reviews of the UK’s daylight saving time policy.
The research contributes to understanding how Daylight Saving Time affects sleep and health and provides valuable data for policymakers contemplating the future of this long-debated practice.