“Daylight Saving Time? It Causes Problems with Concentration, Sleep and Mood,” Says Expert
And it increases accidents, thefts and robberies. The president of the Italian Society of Environmental Medicine (Sima), Alessandro Miani, explains the reasons why it would be desirable to maintain daylight saving time all year round. Here they are
ROME – The transition from summer time to solar time and its effects are not to be underestimated: from the increase in road accidents to the numbers of thefts and robberies, to loss of sleep and bad mood. In short, what can we expect from the return of solar time, scheduled between Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 October?
Not only “turning the hands back one hour” therefore, this transition “determines negative repercussions on human health. It alters the circadian rhythm, that is, the biological clock of our organism which, in the absence of signals from the external environment, completes its cycle in about 24 hours. Failure to respect these natural rhythms has effects on blood pressure and heart rate: several studies have attested to a correlation between time changes and heart disease, with the University of Stockholm reporting an incidence of +4% of heart attacks in the week following the introduction of solar time”. This is according to the president of the Italian Society of Environmental Medicine (Sima), Alessandro Miani.
“MORE ROAD ACCIDENTS AT WORK“
“Sleep problems are also recorded in a significant portion of the population – continues Miani – with negative consequences on concentration and mood and therefore on school performance, efficiency at work, personal relationships, etc. Other studies have then certified a correlation between the transition from summer time to winter time and the increase in road accidents and at work: for example, during daylight saving time periods, a decrease of up to -13% in accidents involving pedestrians was recorded, linked to the increase in visibility along the roads in the evening hours. While research conducted in Australia even found an increase in suicides in the first weeks of the time change. Not to mention the possible consequences on crime: with solar time, the hours of darkness in the evening are extended, those in which thefts, robberies and other crimes are concentrated”.
THE ONLINE PETITION TO MAKE DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME PERMANENT
In the meantime, 350 thousand Italians are asking to stop the switch from daylight saving time to solar time and have signed the online petition launched on Change.org (at the link https://www.change.org/p/ora-legale-per-sempre-cec80ffe-7625-47f0-a6f7-d25775e58329) by Sima and Consumerismo No Profit to ask the government for permanent daylight saving time. “For these reasons, we ask the Meloni government to commit to definitively abandoning solar time in Italy – concludes the president of Consumerismo, Luigi Gabriele – by adopting daylight saving time all year round. A possibility envisaged by the European Union which already in 2019 approved a Directive that leaves broad discretion to the Member States, hoping for coordination between the various nations to avoid repercussions on trade and cross-border movements”.