October: time change to summer time | News and features

The study, carried out by the University of Bristol, was published in Journal of Sleep Research today (October 25) analyzed sleep data from activity monitors worn by 11,800 people during the time change in the spring and fall of 2013-2015. The study is unique in that it analyzed the objectively measured sleep of a large number of people in the UK enrolled in the UK Biobank.

It is generally believed that people lose an hour of sleep in the spring (when clocks go forward an hour) and gain an hour of sleep in the fall (when clocks go back an hour). Previous research also suggests that people get less sleep for about a week after both time changes as they find it difficult to adjust to the new time.

While this new study found that people slept about an hour less on the Sunday of the time change in the spring than on the previous and following Sundays, they didn't use (or couldn't use) the full extra hour of sleep in the fall. In fact, they only slept a little over half an hour longer than the surrounding Sundays.

The study also found that the impact on sleep for the rest of the week varied by gender. Men tended to sleep more on weekdays after both time changes, although this was more pronounced in the spring. However, this catch-up sleep pattern has not been observed in women. On the weekdays after the time change, they often slept less than before. This could be because women are more likely to suffer from insomnia and sleep disorders and these problems are made worse by the time change.

Although short-lived, the sleep loss observed in this study during the spring time change has serious health consequences, as even a single night of sleep loss is associated with worsening mental and physical health. Research has also found that the time changes themselves are linked to an increase in heart attacks, strokes, traffic accidents and depression.

Melanie de Lange, a Wellcome-funded doctoral candidate in epidemiology at Bristol Medical School: Population Health Sciences (PHS) and the MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit and study author, said: “With a growing number of countries – including the US and those in the US .” EU – With the time change set to end, the practice of daylight saving time is at the center of many current debates.

“Our study adds to the growing body of evidence that the switch to daylight saving time in spring is associated with acute sleep loss, which has implications for the health of the UK population. It is vital that any future review of the UK’s summer time policy takes into account the impact of the time change on sleep and health.”

Paper

“The Effects of Daylight Saving Time on Accelerometer-Measured Sleep Duration in the UK Biobank” by Melanie A de Lange, Rebecca C Richmond, Kate Birnie, Chin Yang Shapland, Kate Tilling and Neil M Davies in Journal of Sleep Research (open access)

More information

About the MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU)
The MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol carries out some of the most advanced population health science research in the UK. It uses genetics, population data and experimental interventions to search for the underlying causes of chronic diseases. The unit utilizes the latest advances in genetic and epigenetic technology. They are developing new analytical methods to improve our understanding of how our family background behavior and genes interact to influence health outcomes.

About the British Biobank
UK Biobank is a large-scale biomedical database and research resource containing de-identified genetic, lifestyle and health information and biological samples from half a million UK participants. It is the most comprehensive and widely used dataset of its kind and is accessible worldwide to recognized researchers conducting health-related research that is in the public interest, whether in academic, commercial, government or not-for-profit settings. The UK Biobank is helping to advance modern medicine and provide a better understanding of the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of serious and life-threatening diseases – including cancer, heart disease and stroke. Over 30,000 researchers from more than 90 countries are registered to use the UK Biobank and as a result more than 10,000 peer-reviewed papers have been published. UK Biobank is supported by Wellcome and the Medical Research Council, as well as the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, the UK Government's National Institute for Health and Care Research and the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology, Griffin Catalyst and Schmidt Futures.

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