Sunday morning we fall back; doctor talks time change adjustment

Well, good Friday morning, everybody. In HealthWorks this morning, we are getting an extra hour to celebrate Halloween this year. If you need it, Saturday night, you just have to keep going until the wee hours of Sunday morning, or you can sleep it off maybe the next morning. The clock's falling back to standard time. Even though this time change happens while most of us are asleep, it can have a big impact on our bodies. That's why there is a push to stop it. Sleep experts do not like all this clock changing. They say it's tough on our bodies. Just ask University of Michigan Sleep Medicine Specialist Dr. Anita Shugaker. Current research shows that switching clocks twice per year has the worst effect on our health and well-being. If we can minimize those clock shifts and get rid of them entirely and move to a setting of permanent standard time, that causes the best alignment between our internal clock and the world around us. So here's one potential solution, the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight saving time permanent. It passed the U.S. House this year but stalled in the Senate. President Trump has expressed support for permanent... Daylight Saving Time as well. But Dr. Shogakar says while a change is good, that's welcome. Permanent Daylight Saving Time, she says, is not the move. Instead, she says we need Permanent Standard Time. When people talk about Permanent Daylight Saving Time, they're talking about having daylight later into the evening hours, which may be better for some social and athletic and other activities. When we're talking about what's best for overall health and well-being in terms of cardiometabolic health, our attention span, our mood. That's all best when we have an alignment with our internal clock and the world around us, and that happens best with permanent standard time. Recent research shows that shifting to permanent standard time would lead to a greater decrease in the prevalence of stroke and obesity compared to permanent daylight saving time. The doctor says the spring and summer would still have plenty of light without springing forward. And when we have that alignment with our circadian rhythm and the sun exposure during the day, that's best for our cardiometabolic health, our attention, our sleep, and our overall health and well-being. How about that? Doctor says permanent standard time, which is what we're returning to Sunday morning. You'll fall back. We all look at it as an extra hour of sleep. So we'll see where this goes. You know, this Sunshine Protection Act wants permanent daylight saving time. The doctor says no, that's not the way to go.