Health Risks of Daylight Saving Time: Experts Warn of Sleep Disruption and Increased Accidents
Medical experts highlight the health risks tied to daylight saving time changes, including disrupted sleep and fatal accidents, while offering guidance to ease adjustment.
- • Daylight saving time can cause sleep disturbances and disorientation.
- • Health issues linked to the change include headaches, migraines, and increased accidents.
- • Children are more affected, experiencing longer adjustment periods with mental fatigue.
- • Maintaining a consistent sleep routine and safe home environment can help mitigate risks.
Key details
As Spain shifts its clocks for daylight saving time, medical experts warn of significant health impacts experienced by many people. According to Dr. Emilio Luis González, the change can cause disorientation, sleep disruptions, and an increase in headaches and migraines. Studies have linked the time adjustment to rises in depression, sleep disorders, and even fatal accidents, including traffic collisions and workplace injuries. Children are particularly vulnerable, often facing longer adjustment periods leading to mental confusion, slowed reactions, concentration difficulties, and fatigue.
Experts emphasize the importance of maintaining a consistent sleep schedule and creating an optimal sleep environment, recommending dark, cool bedrooms to help ease the transition. Additionally, firefighters in Miami-Dade suggest this time change as an opportunity to enhance home safety by checking batteries in clocks and flashlights and inspecting electrical wiring.
Public opinion remains divided on the necessity of daylight saving time shifts, with debates on whether to make such time changes permanent continuing in multiple countries. Despite these discussions, Dr. González underlines that good sleep remains the best way to adapt to these changes and mitigate health risks.
This information comes from expert insight reported on November 3, 2025, highlighting the recurrent challenges faced annually in Spain and elsewhere regarding daylight saving time's effects on health and safety.
This article was synthesized and translated from native language sources to provide English-speaking readers with local perspectives.