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Daylight Saving Time May Affect Heart
Study Shows Fewer Heart Attacks When Clocks Are Moved Back By Salynn Boyles
WebMD Health News Reviewed by Elizabeth Klodas, MD, FACC Oct. 29, 2008 -- This weekend brings daylight saving time, and if you're lucky enough to get an extra hour of sleep when you turn your clock back Saturday night, a new study suggests that it might save your life.

When researchers in Sweden examined the impact of daylight saving time on heart attack rates in that country, they discovered that people had slightly fewer heart attacks on the Monday after they set their clocks back in the fall and slightly more heart attacks in the days after they set their clocks ahead in the spring.

They presented their findings in a letter published in the Oct. 30 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

Study co-author Rickard Ljung, MD, PhD, says the results suggest that even small disturbances in sleep patterns may affect the heart.

"We know that Monday is the most dangerous day for heart attacks," he tells WebMD. "It has been thought that this is due to the stress associated with returning to work after the weekend, but our study suggests that disturbed sleep rhythms may be involved, and that the extra hour of sleep we get in the fall [after daylight saving time ends] may be protective."




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