CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- It's time to get an extra hour of sleep as Daylight Saving Time turns back the clock Sunday, but is that readjustment actually healthy for our body?
Sleep scientists and biologists say no.
Many sleep experts and scientists are pushing for a permanenet ban on Daylight Saving Time because it doesn't help improve our health.
Based on current chronobiology knowledge, permanent Standard Time (ST) would be a wiser, healthier choice than either permanent Daylight Savings Time (DST), or the current alternation of ST and DST.https://t.co/WF2NNqddq52/3
— Canadian Society for Chronobiology (@ChronobioCanada) November 2, 2019The Society for Research on Biological Rhythms say fighting against our body clock contributes to obesity, depression and heart problems. In a June 6 report published the Journal of Biological Rhythms, SRBR said there is significant scientific evidence to abandoning Daylight Saving Time.
"The first days after the sudden switch to DST in spring cause acute effects including shorter sleep duration, worse performance, and worse health; heart attacks are, for example, higher during that time compared with other weeks," the report reads.
The report added that it can take months for people's bodies to adjust to sleep, and when adults already normally do not get the required seven or eight hours of sleep a night, working against natural rhythms can affect overall health.
The society held an open forum on Nov. 1 to share their findings and reasoning for banning the time switch, which is not observed in Hawaii, Arizona, the commonwealths of Puerto Rico, the Northern Marina Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa and Guam.
Local and national governments around the world are currently considering the elimination of the annual switch to and from Daylight Saving Time, according to SRBR, and it hopes to have the entire U.S. follow suit for the sake of health benefits and to uphold natural light exposure.
