Health researcher: ‘Daylight saving time messes with our biological clocks’
As clocks spring forward for daylight saving time this weekend, a Virginia Tech expert warns that the time change can have serious health consequences.
“Research shows that daylight saving time messes with our biological clocks by reducing morning sunlight exposure, which pushes our sleep schedules later and can have negative effects on health,” says Carla Finkielstein, a professor at Virginia Tech’s Fralin Biomedical Research Institute and an expert in circadian clocks and cancer biology. “Staying on standard time year-round is much better for our circadian rhythms, overall health, and well-being.”
Finkielstein’s position – that standard time better aligns with human circadian rhythms -- aligns with the Society for Research in Biological Rhythms (SRBR), a scientific organization that warns daylight saving time can increase risks for heart disease, obesity, depression, and workplace accidents. The SRBR, founded in 1986, advocates for policies that protect biological health, including eliminating daylight savings time in favor of permanent standard time.
About daylight saving time
Daylight saving time, which begins at 2 a.m. Sunday, March 9, is the practice of moving clocks forward one hour in the spring and back by one hour in the fall to extend evening daylight during warmer months. The United States begins on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November. First adopted in 1918 to conserve energy, it is observed in all states except Hawaii and most of Arizona.
About Finkielstein
Carla V. Finkielstein is a professor with Virginia Tech’s Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC and scientific director of the institute’s Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory. She also holds an appointment in the Department of Biological Sciences in the College of Science. Finkielstein’s lab studies the molecular clocks that tell cells when it’s time to grow, divide, and die. Our bodies’ cells have a predictable 24-hour cycle of division regulated by a mix of genetic and environmental cues, such as exposure to light, temperature, and hormone levels. The research offers a critical foundation for chronotherapeutics – the study of time-of-day medicine.
Schedule an interview
To schedule an interview with Carla Finkielstein, contact Leigh Anne Kelley at lakelley@vt.edu at (540) 526-2002.
