Did you know that there is a global experiment performed on approximately 1.6 billion people across 75 countries twice a year? It’s called daylight saving time.
[Sleeping with Science]
The sleep-associated consequences are more significant than you may realize. For example in the spring, when we lose one hour of sleep, there is a subsequent 24 percent relative increase in heart attacks. In contrast, in the fall -- in the autumn, when we gain an hour of sleep, there is a 21 percent reduction in heart attacks. Isn’t that incredible?
And I should also note that we see similar changes in things such as road traffic accidents, strokes and, tragically, suicide rates as well.
In fact, even the economy suffers with certain stock market returns taking a downswing following the shift to daylight saving time and that one hour of lost sleep.
This is how fragile our brains, our bodies and even our societies are when it comes to sleep loss. But said more positively, even just small increases in sleep can have immediate as well as long-term health benefits.
So rather than thinking of sleep as a cost, we can instead think of sleep as one of the very best investments we can make.
