No solid evidence daylight savings time affects mental health, researchers find
HealthThe Guardian

No solid evidence daylight savings time affects mental health, researchers find

A major international study found no solid evidence that daylight saving time causes significant mental health problems, though minor jet-lag-like effects are possible.

Some people experience effects similar to minor jet lag, but no association with significant declines in mental health, study shows

The Long Sip
What happened

A large international study including two Swinburne University researchers reviewed 157 studies from 36 countries over a decade on daylight saving time effects.

The detail

The study, published in the European Journal of Epidemiology, found only weak and inconsistent evidence linking the clock change to depression or substance abuse.

What it means

Some people may feel minor jet-lag-like effects, the researchers say, but the idea that the time shift causes serious mental health decline is not well supported.

For you

Clocks spring forward at 2am Sunday in NSW, Victoria, SA, Tasmania and the ACT, so you may want to go to bed a little earlier on Saturday night.

Full story at The Guardian

What readers are saying

natn
The study mentions physical harm crimes dropping when daylight saving starts, but then jumping back up when it ends. It is strange that the transition timing shifts criminal behavior around like that.
bazz1988
How do they separate the time change from just having longer days overall?

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