A one-hour adjustment to the clock on the wall may not sound dramatic. But our biological clock begs to differ.
On Sunday, March 9, at 2 a.m. local time, the U.S. “springs forward,” moving the clocks ahead one hour as we enter daylight saving time. Most of us need a few days to adjust to time changes. In the meantime, we may suffer some consequences.
“Heart attacks and traffic fatalities increase in the days following the change to daylight saving time in the spring,” said biologist Erik Herzog, PhD, the Viktor Hamburger Distinguished Professor in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis and past president of the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms, a scientific organization dedicated to the study of biological clocks and sleep.
Here, Herzog answers a few questions about the disruptions of daylight saving time and his view on a better path forward.
