Government Clock Intervention
Switching the clocks back and forward each year may trigger a wave of strokes, research suggests.
Scientists think that daylight saving time gives the human body clock a jolt.
And they found that the number of stroke victims taken to hospital rises for a few days after the time changes.
Scientists analysed ten years’ worth of data from hospitals in Finland.
They compared the average number of people admitted with a stroke in the week of a daylight saving transition, compared to the two weeks before and two weeks after that week.
The team found that the rate of ischemic strokes – the most common type – increased by an average 8 per cent in the first two days after the clocks went back in the autumn or forward in the spring.
After two days, they found that the rate returned to normal.
The scientists, from the University of Turku in Finland, suspect that the temporary spike in stroke incidence might be related to the change in daily sleep-wake cycle.
Nearly all living things have an internal mechanism – known as the circadian rhythm or body clock – which synchronises bodily functions to the 24-hour pattern of the Earth’s rotation.
In humans, the clock is regulated by the bodily senses, most importantly the way the eye perceives light and dark and the way skin feels temperature changes.
The mechanism rules our daily rhythms, including our sleep and waking patterns and metabolism. It also determines if we are a ‘morning’ person or an ‘evening’ person.
There is growing evidence that altering this rhythm – for example by working antisocial hours or regularly traveling between different time zones – places a strain on the body clock and creates long-term health problems.
The post Government Clock Intervention appeared first on LewRockwell.
Leave a Reply