This year I voted for the first time ever in a TV News poll. The question was: should we continue to change clocks in this spring and fall? I voted no!
Why vote no?
Changing our clocks often creates confusion. Not all countries change at the same time and some areas don’t change at all now. It doesn’t take much imagination to understand the confusion this must create for travellers, airlines, distance meetings on the Internet, and showing up for church on time on that first Sunday.
For example, I always assumed that all countries changed their clocks at the same time. How else could international travellers and transportation systems manage during that week? We jokingly chastised a friend for arriving an hour late at our meeting place while staying in France, presuming she’d forgotten to change her clock. Later we realized Canada changes a week before Europe does and, of course, we were following Canadian news. I had wondered why my phone hadn’t changed the hour automatically… turns out it was smarter than we were!
But time change can also affect health and how well you sleep while your body adjusts its daily cycles by that hour. Animals, plants, and even microbes have these daily cycles as well as humans. They are part of the biological clock which controls cycles of various lengths, some of which are longer than a day, like women’s menstrual cycles. The daily cycles are called circadian rhythms, from the Latin term “cerca diem” which means “around a day”.
Each of us has our own ”chronotype”, or individualized daily rhythm. Some of us are “early birds”, others are “night owls”, and these tendencies often run in families. But our rhythms are also affected by factors outside the body, especially light, including artificial light from our home lighting and devices. Getting more or less sleep than usual, changing time zones, and working a night shift can affect circadian rhythms. Hormone changes like menopause and the menstrual cycle can also have an influence. And aging can change your circadian rhythms too—our chronotype is often different in later life than it was when we were teenagers, sliding us more toward the “early bird” type, quite different from the teenage “night owls” who love to sleep in.
Your body has its own clock… located in the brain
Biological rhythms are controlled by a cluster of neurons (nerve cells) called the SCN (superchiasmatic nucleus) located in the hypothalamus section of the brain. It’s located behind the eyes, it’s very sensitive to light, and it receives direct nerve input from the eyes.
The SCN sends signals throughout the body to regulate many activities. It cues systems like digestion to produce digestive enzymes at mealtimes, and the endocrine system to produce hormones that wake us and help us go to sleep. The sleep/wake cycle is one of the most well-known circadian rhythms. Those who are completely blind and keep their eyes closed during the day, can reduce the amount of light falling on the back of the eyes enough to disrupt their day/night cycle. I had a young client who was blind that used a drowsy-causing antihistamine to help correct his sleep/wake cycle because of this many years ago.
Circadian rhythms can also affect metabolism and weight gain by regulating blood sugar and cholesterol production. They can control how sharply your brain focuses and can affect risk of mental health problems like depression, bipolar disorder, and dementia. The immune system is also influenced, impacting DNA repair and our natural systems of cancer prevention.
What can time change do?
Arbitrarily changing the time with the season means all these automatic functions need to shift by an hour. We know that travel across several time zones requires a major shift of circadian rhythm, with the well-known fatigue we call “jet lag”. But even 1 hour can leave us tired and not functioning our best for a few days while we adjust to the sudden change, rather than experiencing the gradual change of the seasons.
Circadian disruptions, even of only 1 hour, have been shown to result in serious sleeping problems – struggling to fall asleep, waking during the night, and being unable to sleep as long as you want in the morning. Disruptions are also suggested as potentially contributing to obstructive sleep apnea, where breathing stops briefly, disrupting sleep and decreasing oxygen levels.
Timing of drug administration in relation to circadian rhythms may influence drug effectiveness too. Chronobiology, the study of the effect of the circadian rhythm on our biology, is part of a current area of research into personalization of medicine along with other factors that affect an individual’s response to medication.
What can you do to help stabilize your circadian rhythm?
Going to bed and getting up at the same time each day helps to keep the circadian rhythm on an even keel. Using less bright lighting after sundown, and especially reducing blue light that the SCN is most sensitive to, can reduce the effect on your circadian rhythm and your sleep. Most devices have a dimmer for the screen and some now have built-in filters for blue light, the colour of light that seems to affect the SCN most.
Why do we change the clocks anyway?
Originally clocks were changed to provide more daylight hours for farmers and the “war effort”, while keeping sunrise earlier during shorter winter days. But is this still needed with mechanization of farming and the peace time we now enjoy? Or is it just a habit or tradition? Several jurisdictions have already fixed their clocks and more are considering it.
Why did I vote to freeze clocks?
I voted we should stay permanently with Daylight Savings Time in that CTV opinion poll, mainly because of the unnecessary confusion created by the shift and the lack of a good reason to continue the tradition. But this year I noticed it took me longer to adapt to the change. It’s Thursday as I write this and last night was my first good night’s sleep this week. It’s taken me four days to adapt my internal clock to the 1 hour shift last Sunday. So negative health effects are another reason to stop seasonal time adjustments. I was happy to see that the majority in the poll voted to stay in Daylight Savings Time permanently too!
So, how did you make out this week? Did you find yourself a little draggy in the morning? Any trouble falling or staying asleep? I’m curious… Shall we do our own little poll? Are you in favour of eliminating the twice yearly time change? Vote below!
References:
What to know about circadian rhythm—Medical News Today https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/circadian-rhythms?utm_source=Sailthru%20Email&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=MNT%20Daily%20News&utm_content=2021-01-12&utm_country=&utm_hcp=&apid=30707099
Circadian Rhythm—Sleep Foundation https://www.sleepfoundation.org/circadian-rhythm
Circadian Rhythms—NIH National Institute of General Medical Sciences https://www.nigms.nih.gov/education/fact-sheets/Pages/circadian-rhythms.aspx
Get in Touch With Your CircadianRhythm—WebMD https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/find-circadian-rhythm#1
