HIDDEN Heart Attack Trigger (Beware)

At first glance, my home state of Arizona and Hawaii have little in common.

But both share an important distinction. Neither participates in the risky practice of daylight saving time (DST). It’s just one of the many reasons I love living here.

The rest of the country shifted their clocks forward by an hour nearly a week ago.

In theory, DST sounds fantastic. After all, getting an extra hour of sunshine IS appealing.

But the truth is, this artificial shift in time is TERRIBLE for your health. In fact, your heart attack and stroke risk climb higher in the week following DST.

And the reason WHY is actually quite simple.

Daylight savings time always makes me think of an old margarine commercial. You may remember it yourself.

In the ad, a pretty lady in a white dress wags a finger at the camera and says in a booming voice, “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature!” Which is followed by a dramatic thunderclap.

I couldn’t agree more. Because whenever you muck around with nature, your health will likely suffer.

And that’s exactly what we’re looking at when DST artificially shifts the time.

You see, our bodies run on an internal 24-hour clock. This clock, or circadian rhythm, follows the sun.

All of your body’s normal functions—ranging from cellular repair to maintaining body temperature—are RULED by this master clock.

Obviously, this makes it vital to keep your body in sync with the sun to remain healthy. When we don’t, we’re at risk for a laundry list of health issues.

That’s why it should come as no big surprise that deciding to arbitrarily shift time by an hour in the spring can briefly knock your body into a state of chaos.

And research has made it clear this can have devastating consequences for some folks resulting in a DST-linked heart attack or stroke in the days following the change.

In fact, even the American Heart Association is warning about the increased heart risks associated with daylight saving time.

And If you have an underlying health condition, your risks run even HIGHER.

• Hospital admissions for atrial fibrillation go up during the week following the shift.
• Ischemic stroke rates rise by eight percent in the days after springing forward.
• The Monday following, there’s an average 24 percent JUMP in daily heart attacks.

The good news is, if you’re in good physical shape, to begin with, DST likely won’t have a massive impact on your health. Although it might make you feel out of sorts and sleepy for a week or two.

But the fact that messing with the clock like this CAN trigger such significant health complications is clear evidence of just how critical respecting our circadian rhythm is.

Do your heart a favor by practicing good sleep hygiene during this time, including sleeping in a dark room, removing electronics from the bedroom, going to sleep at the same time every night, and rising with the sun.

P.S. There’s ANOTHER reason you should be thinking about time and your heart. Researchers recommend setting a timer every HOUR to reduce your risk of a heart attack. CLICK HERE to discover the reason why.

Source:

“Daylight savings time and myocardial infarction,” Open Heart 2014;1:e000019. doi: 10.1136/openhrt-2013-000019