The US has decided to cancel the clock movement. Do we need to too?

Studies show that moving the clock, a seemingly small change, can affect mood, the chance of accidents and even heart health.

After the US and Europe have already decided to get rid of it - maybe it's time for us to move forward too?

Walla!

health

23/03/2022

Wednesday, 23 March 2022, 08:07 Updated: 08:11

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On March 13, in the United States, as in many countries around the world, move all clocks one hour forward - to enjoy another precious evening sunshine.

The problem with moving the clock during this period, as we all know, is the fact that on this specific night you lose an entire and vital hour of sleep.

Apparently this loss hurt especially the members of the U.S. Senate this year because they unanimously voted to stop changing the time in the fall and spring.

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Very soon we are moving to daylight saving time.

This is how it will affect you

To the full article

That decision has yet to be approved by House of Representatives and President Joe Biden, but it's interesting to see how much it affects life itself.

When you look at it in depth, you realize that even this significant change has implications for the health of us all.

So if you too are angry that in winter the short days are getting even shorter anyway, or you do not want to lose an hour of sleep every time spring comes (and it happens right tomorrow) - let's understand what exactly will happen to our health if we follow our American friends:

How does moving the clock affect health?

It is strange to think that a change of one hour really affects us, but many studies show that this is definitely the case.

One of the most frightening scientific reviews apparently brought to decision-makers in the United States, was published in 2019 and compiled numerous data collected on the effect of moving the clock on heart health.

The researchers concluded that in the days after the clock moved, in the fall and spring, the incidence of heart attacks increased.

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This connection may seem strange to you, but the scientific community knows it well.

In 2015, another study was published in which they saw that in the two days after the clock was moved, the incidence of stroke increased by 8 percent.

In addition, the researchers found that among cancer patients, the risk of stroke increased by 25 percent.

Among those aged 65 and over, the risk increased by 20 percent.

And not only the heart and mind can be adversely affected.

Another study published in 2020, found that these days there is an average 6 percent increase in the risk of road accidents in the United States as well.

If that wasn’t enough, another study found that hospitals reported an 11 percent increase in the average incidence of depressive symptoms.

Moving the clock affects us more than we think.

Clock (Photo: Giphy)

Dr. Charles Zeissler, director of the Department of Sleep Disorders at Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston, explained in an interview with WebMD that "consistency in sleep scheduling is just as important as how long we sleep - and there are many studies that show it." People do not think an hour's change will be significant for their health - and it's true that most of us adapt to it fairly quickly, but the data we have presented, and many others, show that on a broader level, this decision certainly has an impact on public health.

So why do you keep moving the clock every year?

Moving the clock is a custom that began as early as the 18th century AD and is believed to have been influenced by the founding father of the United States, Benjamin Franklin.

The custom began, as is well known, to help farmers and working people take advantage of more hours of sunshine each day for work - thus having a positive impact on the economy as well as the people themselves.

The economic argument is still present and significant when it comes to eliminating clock movement, but in practice, studies conducted in recent years suggest that the current situation apparently has no beneficial effect on the economy.

Some studies even point to possible damage caused by moving the clock.

Getting up for a dark morning is also not great fun.

Woman wakes up (Photo: Giphy)

There is no doubt that any such significant decision will affect, for better or worse, different people.

The Americans as such are in the final stages of approving the decision, but even there there are those who warn that what looks good in theory, will not necessarily stand the test of reality.

The Washingtonian mentions that in the 1970s they had already tried to abolish the movement of the clock in the United States following a majority that supported it, but the decision was overturned after the public "hated it," they said.

Attached to the article was the original article then published in the Washington Post, in which mothers described how they sent their children with flashlights to school in the morning.

In Europe, too, they had hoped to abolish daylight saving time as early as last year, on the orders of the European Union, but bureaucratic obstacles, including the UK's exit from the EU, are holding back the change.

However, in most African, South American and Asian countries we have already stopped with this custom and we in Israel only have to figure out for ourselves whether we want to continue to gain and lose hours - or maintain a balance all year round.

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