The "Are You Ready For A Life-Changing Suggestion?" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Most of America "sprung forward" this past Sunday for daylight saving time and losing that hour of sleep can do more than leave you tired and cranky the next couple of days.  It also can harm your health!  Darker mornings and more evening light together knock you body clock out of whack...which means daylight saving time can usher in sleep trouble for weeks or longer.  Studies have found an uptick in heart attacks and strokes right after the March time change.  There are ways to ease the adjustment, including getting more sunshine  to help reset your circadian rhythm for healthful sleep.  "Not unlike when one travels across many time zones, how long it can take is very different for different people.  Understand that your body is transitioning."  Daylight saving time began this past Sunday at 2 a.m., and hour of sleep vanished in most of the U.S.A.  The ritual will reverse on November 3 when clocks "fall back" as daylight saving time ends.  Some people try to prepare for daylight saving time's sleep jolt by going to bed a little earlier two or three nights ahead.  With a third of American adults already not getting the recommended seven hours of nightly shuteye, catching up can be difficult.  Your brain has a master clock that is set by exposure to sunlight and darkness.  This circadian rhythm is a roughly 24-hour cycle that determines when we become sleepy and when we're more alert.  The patterns change with age, one reason that early-to-rise youngsters evolve into hard-to-wake teens.  Morning light resets the rhythm.  By evening, levels of a hormone called melatonin begin to surge, triggering drowsiness.  Too much light in the evening...that extra hour from daylight saving time...delays that surge and the cycle gets out of sync.  Sleep deprivation is linked to heart disease, cognitive decline, obesity and numerous other problems.  And that circadian clock affects more than sleep, also influencing things like heart rate, blood pressure, stress hormones and metabolism.  Fatal car crashes temporarily jump the first few days after the spring time change.  The risk is highest in the morning, and researchers attribute it to sleep deprivation.  Then there's the cardiac connection.  The American Heart Asso. points to studies that suggest an uptick in heart attacks on the Monday after daylight saving time begins and in strokes for two days afterward.  Doctors already know heart attacks, especially severe ones, are a bit more common on Mondays generally, and in the morning, when blood is more clot-prone.  It's not clear why the time change would add to the Monday connection, although probably something about the abrupt circadian disruption exacerbates factors such as high blood pressure in people already at risk.  Some health groups, including the American Medical Associations and American Academy of Sleep Medicine, have said that it's time to do away with time switches and that sticking with standard time year-round aligns better with the sun...and human biology.  So what do you think???  You ready for Standard Time all year?  I'm not! I'm enjoying the extra hour of daylight!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.