ST. LOUIS (KMOX)-Losing an hour of sleep may do more than just make you tired for a few days. Clayton Sleep Institute Founder Dr. Joseph Ojile says the time change has been proven to have some serious side effects, "It's been studied over the last several decades. A significant increase, between five and 10 percent, increase rates of heart attack and stroke and, of course, there's a significant increase in motor vehicle accidents."
Ojile tells Total Information AM that's probably because, like jet lag, it alters your circadian rhythm, which affects things that control other systems in your body. There's things such as blood clotting. How irritable some of the things like your coronary arteries are, your blood vessels. Things such as that. So, there is a significant effect."
To reduce the impact, Ojile says, you should go to bed 20 to 30 minutes earlier for the next few days. He says for some people, the time change can impact them for several months.