MOVING the clocks forward an hour significantly raises the risk of having a heart attack, according to a new study.
For most of us it signals the promise of longer days to come, but putting the clocks forward an hour tonight could be bad for the health of more than a million people in Britain with heart conditions.
The study, led by experts at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, backs up previous research suggesting heart attacks spike in the days after the clocks going forward.
In a report on the findings, scientists said: “Daylight saving results in changes in circadian rhythms and disturbances in sleep duration that may last for weeks.
“This can affect heart rate and blood pressure.”
Daylight saving results in changes in circadian rhythms and disturbances in sleep duration that may last for weeks
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Their study claims that losing an hour’s sleep due to daylight saving increases hospital admissions for a serious heart rhythm condition known as atrial fibrillation — which causes an estimated 16,000 strokes a year.
Atrial fibrillation develops when electrical activity in the heart goes haywire, causing it to beat irregularly.
The scientists also fear that the one-hour loss of sleep is enough to leave some sufferers needing emergency treatment because the effect on their circadian rhythm — or body clock — makes their heart rate go haywire.
Their research revealed that moving clocks back an hour in the autumn does not appear to have the same effect on the heart.
The US team tracked 6,000 patients in their 60s over a seven-year period.
All the volunteers had atrial fibrillation that was treated with prescription medicines.
The results, published in the journal Sleep Medicine, found hospital admissions with heart rhythm complications jumped around 25 per cent in the days following the clocks changing.
Last year the European Parliament voted to abandon daylight saving time — introduced during the First World War to save energy by prolonging daylight in summer.
The ruling is due to take effect next year, but Britain has so far rejected the idea.
