Loss of sleep and lack of energy are some consequences of the spring time change
If you fall asleep anywhere and feel especially tired these days, chances are you’re not alone, because there’s a medical explanation.
Loss of sleep and lack of energy are some of the consequences of the spring time change highlighted by several scientific studies and experts in chronobiology.
They also say that this readjustment of the schedule designed to save energy, which has occurred this weekend in Spain and for which an hour of sleep has been lost, is more traumatic than the one that takes place in October.
“It is common for there to be greater fatigue in the spring time change, in which the clock is moved forward one hour. The change in light is something abrupt, when we are already used to waking up during the day, it is night again,” Juan Antonio Madrid Pérez, professor of Physiology and director of the Chronobiology Laboratory at the University of Murcia, tells Verne by phone.
“These transitions can break chronobiological rhythms and influence the duration and quality of sleep for several days,” highlights the scientific publication The New Englad Journal of Medicine in an article from Columbia University recommended by Madrid Pérez.
In any case, it is not a question of half the country sticking to the sheets.
Those most affected when faced with time changes are sensitive population centers, such as children, the elderly and people with common insomnia problems, explains Dr. Raúl Pelayo, a member of the Catalan Society of Neurology and the Academy of Medical Sciences of Catalonia.
Change of month
In the case of the March change, in which an hour of sleep is lost, this group would be joined by “adolescents and young people up to 30 years of age, since it is an age group with more evening habits”, according to the Chronobiology Laboratory of the University of Murcia.
Normally, the effects do not last more than four days after the time has changed. Only in older people, who are more reluctant to change, could they last longer than that time, says the expert in chronobiology from the University of Murcia.
Dr. Pelayo points out to Verne that “more scientific studies focused on how this change affects our body are still missing” and that, in general, “analyses in this field are carried out in comparison with similar situations that have been widely studied by science, such as jet-lag.”
Where the time change can also be noticed is in the heart rate, in those groups that already suffer from some ailment or predisposition. “Waking up is generally a somewhat traumatic process for the body and specifically for blood pressure, which is why more cardiovascular accidents tend to occur during the morning. There are studies that highlight that, after the time change in March, the number of myocardial infarctions increases,” says Juan Antonio Madrid Pérez.
Source: Verne
