The transition to winter time usually falls at the end of October. Although thanks to him we sleep an hour longer once a year, we feel it especially acutely. Read why this happens – find out how the change of time for winter affects the body.
How does the change of time to winter affect the body?
It would seem that switching to winter time, when we turn back the clock, getting an extra hour for sleep, will help to cope with stress and seasonal depression, but the changes have the opposite effect. Daylight saving time by one hour causes discomfort similar to that experienced by people who change time zones.
Before the body switches to a completely different rhythm, you can feel a lack of appetite, excessive drowsiness, stomach problems, confusion and deterioration of well-being. The body needs about a week to switch to another time. The consequences of the change of time especially strongly affect people who lead a stable lifestyle.
Time Changes Contribute to Depression
This conclusion was made by scientists from Aarhus University in Denmark. They studied the cases of 185,000 people who were diagnosed with depression between 1995 and 2012. It turned out that the change of time for the winter causes an increase in the incidence of this disease by as much as 8-11% in the month following this change, i.e. in November. The researchers also took into account factors such as worsening weather and a shorter day – according to them, it was the fact of changing the time for winter that contributed to the development of depression in the aforementioned percentage of patients.
Deregulation of the biological clock
The change of time also leads to a violation of the regulation of the biological clock, which is set on a certain way of life. Changing the clock for an hour is of great importance for the body, it is often combined with a change in our habits – the time of getting up, eating. All this has an impact on the disorder of homeostasis, which is also responsible for the mental sphere. Modification of the circadian rhythm affects the secretion of circadian hormones – cortisol and melatonin.
