You very first citation supports what antlers wrote:
The overall number of heart attacks for the full week after daylight saving time didn’t change, just the number on that first Monday. The number then dropped off the other days of the week.
You know what else causes needless heart attacks and lost productivity? The World Cup and the Superbowl. Can we abolish both?
Afterwards, let’s consider all the injuries caused by Fourth of July. Is it really worth celebrating?
Great, heart attacks only occur between 24 and 144 hours early because of DST. I guess we can all sleep soundly. Except, on Monday.
But, heart attacks are just a small slice of an otherwise shit sandwich. Are we going to ignore the 17% increase in car accidents after we switch the clocks?
Or perhaps we ignore the fact that teenagers, with their sleep cycle always behind that of adults, are even more impacted by DST?
DST is not the same as the World Cup or the Superbowl or 4th of July. It has lasting negative impacts, some say as much as 2 weeks after the clock changes, and the gains are marginal, and it’s nationwide.
So, should we ban the World Cup and the Superbowl? Sure, when they are shown to cause damage that lasts for over a week to the wider population. When they are shown to bring only pain and suffering, and almost no joy to the majority of people.
Most of those studies show a corresponding decrease in heart attacks, injuries, etc in the fall transition (and days immediately following) that generally balances out whatever was observed in the spring. So the net effect of DST over the year is questionable.
Also, we can immediately conclude that permanent DST is the worst option from a health standpoint, since we will forego one fall cycle.
If I lived far enough north and it was in any way practical, I’d probably want to have two hours of change in two increments spaced out over the spring and the fall.
Now that most timepieces are internet connected or otherwise automatically adjust for DST, maybe the best option would be to add/subtract 10 minutes a day over the course of six days.
It seems like the best solution is to just Fall Back every year and not bother with Spring Forward.
Also, I doubt that the Fall Back prevents nearly as many fatalities and Spring Forward causes.
We could leave it in place, but make DST day a national holiday. Less driving, less stress, less accidents.
Keep in mind, DST official happens Sunday Morning, so usually people aren’t working or driving or anything and you have 24 hours to get ready for it. It doesn’t become an issue until the first real work day (and then the echoes are felt up to 2 weeks later). I don’t know if having 48 hours instead of 24 hours will make a real difference if people are just going to sleep in anyway.
Also, if we can’t a national holiday for election day, I doubt we could get one for Spring Forward.
No, the simple answer is to end the clock change. It’s that simple. Hell, most of Arizona doesn’t bother with Spring Forward or Fall Backwards.
They have no need to. On July 1, sunrise in Phoenix is at 5:22 am. On the same day, it’s at 5:19 am in Chicago, with DST. It would be at 4:19 am in Chicago without it. You can speak for yourself, but a lot of Chicagoans would find this unacceptable.
From your own article that I linked above:
Switching over to daylight saving time, and losing one hour of sleep, raised the risk of having a heart attack the following Monday by 25 percent, compared to other Mondays during the year, according to a new U.S. study released on Saturday.
By contrast, heart attack risk fell 21 percent later in the year, on the Tuesday after the clock was returned to standard time, and people got an extra hour’s sleep.
My gut says a national DST holiday would have a strong positive effect! (There is probably evidence that a holiday of only one day can have positive effects that last for several days.) But it wouldn’t involve God or patriotism, so good luck with that…
21 % is less than 25% and as you have pointed out, Mondays regular have the most heart attack is to begin with. So, you need up with a small percentage gain on a day that regular sees fewer heart attacks.
I guess that’s that. Fall back does not make up for spring forward.
Oh, and just for fun, it look like assaults spike during Fall Back. Of course, I guess assaults are down on spring forward.
Fall backward might be associated with more SAD as well.
But seriously, if daylights so important to you, can’t you just ask for more flexible hours at work?
DST effects have been known to last over week and in some cases 2 weeks. I don’t think a single holiday will make up for that.
It doesn’t necessarily work like that.
For instance, if you start with 4 heart attacks and go up to 5, that’s a 25% increase. When you go back down to 4, it’s only a 20% decrease.
If you’re worried about a heart attack after losing an hour of sleep, can’t you just ask to come in late on Monday?
I am worried about exhausted drivers on the road. I am worried about being to tired to do my job properly (lost production is a thing). I am worried about my mental health.
And I worried that it regular takes a person a whole week to actually get used to the new time zone. It’s jet lag with the perks of being somewhere else.
But Heart attack, it’s not a top complaint, its just the one you are focused on because you have nothing else to support your thesis that changing the clocks is a good thing.
I am worried about constant sleep disturbance due to lighting conditions at 4 am. I am worried that this will cause me to do my job improperly as well as the effect it will have on other sleep-deprived drivers.
I am worried about a Chicago sunset at 3:30 pm (if we switch to permanent DST) leading to more children getting hit by cars all winter long and other accidents. I am worried they will spend even less time outdoors after school, putting their health at risk.
I would prefer a week at risk rather than an entire season.
It’s clear your have your preference, legowarrior. Just don’t assume everyone feels the same way.
Not if you are the one killed during this week. The the rest of the season doesn’t matter.
And you don’t have a basis for your claims. People drive in the dark all the time. In fact, studies show that the more dangerous the route is perceived to be, the safe people drive.
So, dark and scary, everyone drives better.
Earlier this week, a new paper seemed to validate the idea that the best driver is an unsettled one. In a small study published in the Journal of Consumer Research , researchers from the University of Michigan and Brigham Young University found that signs that conveyed a greater degree of motion—think a running stick-figure pedestrian, not a strolling one—may raise drivers’ perception of risk, which may in turn translate to more caution and attention from behind the wheel.
So, maybe the solution is to drive in the dark more often?
Studies also show that more accidents occur at night than during the day.
There’s a point where you no longer can get more stressed by stuff like this, and instead just get desensitized (or oversensitized?) and start ignoring stuff, IMO.
And that point, you should stop driving. You’ll likely kill someone.
Anyway, @magnet, more people drink or are exhausted at night as well. There are a lot of confounding variables to sort through.
In 2008, there were more accidents in August, when we have the most light, and January, when we have some of the least.
There are always tons of variables, but it has been shown that shifting sleep patterns is dangerous.
This one article says that light isn’t an issue.
https://oklahomalawyer.com/time-day-car-accidents-likely-happen/
I’m not sure how much you want to credit it though.