We should all ditch the clocks, or, at the very least, Daylight Saving: York expert
Biology prof available to comment to media on internal clocks, how our bodies are adversely affected by time switches and potential ways to mitigate
TORONTO, Oct 30, 2024 – This Sunday our bodies will get a long-needed pause from the detrimental effects of Daylight Saving Time. With a vast body of research showing the various health risks associated with the springtime switch, a York expert on biological clocks says the time is long overdue to make that pause permanent.
“When we spring forward, we lose an hour of sleep and we’re also moving our social clock away from the sun, which our body wants to follow. So it’s like we’re making ourselves an hour jet-lagged every day. Your body doesn’t immediately adapt to that and can actually lead to some negative health impacts,” says Faculty of Science Professor Patricia Lakin-Thomas, an expert in biological clocks who studies the molecular and biochemical basis for circadian rhythmicity. Lakin-Thomas says Daylight Saving is shown to contribute to higher numbers of car accidents, heart attacks and strokes and workplace injuries. Lakin-Thomas also sits on the board of the Canadian Society for Chronobiology, which represents scientists across Canada who work on circadian rhythms, who call for Daylight Saving Time to be ditched forever.
“Ideally we would all follow the sun, scrap our clocks, and do what they did in the Middle Ages, before we had regulated clocks, do what farmers do, and get up with the sun. People in cultures that don’t have electricity don’t bother with clocks. That would be ideal. We can’t do that, but we can get rid of Daylight Saving.”
Lakin-Thomas is available to comment on:
- Social clocks versus body clocks and why spring forward is much harder than fall back
- Why the first light of dawn is crucial for keeping our internal clocks in sync
- Chronic and acute effects of having your internal clock misaligned and how Daylight Saving Time comes into play
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Media Contact: Emina Gamulin, York University Media Relations, 437-217-6362, egamulin@yorku.ca
