Turning Clocks Back Not Good for Your Health

It’s time once again for turning clocks back, and some say they relish the extra time to sleep. But an expert at Policy Studies Institute, as well as Saga research results, say that turning clocks back is not good for your health.

Turning clocks back impacts physical and mental health

According to Mayer Hillman, senior fellow emeritus at the Policy Studies Institute, putting clocks forward in the spring is a simple way to improve health because it increases the number of daylight hours and thus encourages people to be outside and participate in outdoor activities. Turning clocks back, however, has the opposite effect.
Given the growing problem of overweight and obesity among both children and adults, as well as weight-associated health challenges such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and certain cancers, efforts to encourage physical activity are critically important.
Mayer notes in a “Personal View” section of the recent British Medical Journal that putting the clock ahead in the spring but not turning it back in the fall “would considerably increase opportunities for outdoor leisure activities—about 300 additional hours of daylight for adults each year and 200 more for children.”
Research indicates that individuals tend to be happier and have more energy when there is more daylight and to be more sad and lethargic when there is less daylight. In fact, a type of depression known as SAD—Seasonal Affective Disorder—is associated with a decline in sunlight during the winter months.
In a recent article in the UK Telegraph, it is also reported that Saga’s monthly poll of more than 13,000 people older than 50, two-thirds are in favor of not turning back clocks in the fall to avoid the isolation they feel during the longer days without sunlight.
According to Ros Altmann, Saga’s director-general, “Taking away the extra hour of daylight robs many of their independence. By staying indoors to avoid driving they are being isolated from friends and family.” Saga’s research has shown that two-thirds of people older than 50 are less likely to go out on dark evenings, 40 percent said they were more depressed by dark evenings, nearly 25 percent were “grumpier,” and they exercised less.
For many people, the approach of winter is also the time for turning clocks back. Some argue that it may be time to forego this tradition because it is not beneficial for our health. Officials will have an extra hour or so to sleep on that question.

Vets Must Cope With Many Struggles

Financial problems, unemployment, poor health and poorly managed and often ignored mental health seem to be the top challenges facing area veterans, officials said.
“Unemployment is quite high” in Henry County and Martinsville, and “adjusting to life after being in combat can be very difficult,” said Preston Page. He is a licensed social worker and licensed substance abuse treatment practitioner who has a practice in Martinsville.
"A great deal of terrible things happen in combat to you and other people. Sometimes you have caused terrible things to happen” he said. “Those things are hard to live with. Plus, you survived and came home,” said Page.
It appears that the rules at home are quite different than in the rules in the combat zone. Soldiers and their families often struggle as things have changed during the time of military service, and adjustment problems and relationship problems may result, Page has said.
A study by the Virginia Tech Institute on Policy and Governance that indicated veterans in Southwest Virginia had alarming rates of depression. Page said there has been a huge increase in mental health services offered by the military since he was in Vietnam, and there are services available in the community and through other avenues.
“Many in our group have waited over five years to have their claims rated by the (VA),” she added. Rated means that a veteran qualifies for disability benefit depending on what percentage of his or her injury or health condition is service-connected.
According to a survey in the study, 47 percent of veterans responding in Southwest Virginia felt sad or depressed. Statewide the average was 34.8 percent. That is a great deal of soldiers that are depressed after serving their country,
The problem is it can be difficult for veterans to admit they need help and seek it, he said. In the military, personnel are taught to be strong and self-reliant, he said. The other problem is the VA is swamped.
The most important issue facing veterans today is “the delays, denials and excuses, we have been given by the (VA) in rating and processing the disability claims for our veterans. The fact that 380, plus, Vietnam veterans are dying each day makes it imperative these claims be expedited. Too long we have endured a maze of futile forms and one-sided claims and pension exams,” said Judy Doering coordinator of the support group Wives of Vietnam Veterans.
Many vets must cope with struggles that we may be unaware of and the waiting list for proper care seems to get longer and longer.