RELATED: Daylight Saving Time Ends This Weekend—Time to Do These 7 Things Around Your Home “We are relatively certain that it is the transition from daylight saving time to standard time that causes the increase in the number of depression diagnoses and not, for example, the change in the length of the day or bad weather. In fact, we take these phenomena into account in our analyses,” Søren D. Østergaard, one of the five researchers behind the study wrote in the group’s findings. “Our results should give rise to increased awareness of depression in the weeks following the transition to standard time. This is especially true for people with a tendency towards depression—as well as their relatives. Furthermore, the healthcare professionals who diagnose and treat depression should also take our results into consideration.” RELATED: 9 Scientifically-Backed Ways to Beat the Fall and Winter Blues “The behavioral adaptation anticipating the longer day on Sunday of the shift from DST in the fall leads to an increased number of accidents suggesting an increase in late night (early Sunday morning) driving when traffic-related fatalities are high possibly related to alcohol consumption and driving while sleepy,” the study concluded. “Public health educators should probably consider issuing warnings both about the effects of sleep loss in the spring shift and possible behaviors such as staying out later, particularly when consuming alcohol in the fall shift.” “Sleep is associated with many physiological changes that are normally thought of as being relatively protective against stroke, like lower blood pressure,” Dr. Andrew Lim, is a neurologist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center who was not involved in the study, shared. RELATED: 11 Healthy Habits That Can Actually Help You Sleep Better “Sleep problems have previously been associated with increased antisocial and criminal behavior, so we were surprised to find that increased sleep was associated with increased offending,” study author Adrian Raine said in press release. “This discrepancy is likely due to the fact that 40 to 60 minutes of lost sleep in one night is just not the same as months, or even years, of poor sleep.” Maybe Arizona and Hawaii are really onto something by forgoing daylight saving after all. RELATED: 10 Bedtime Essentials to Help You Get the Best Sleep Ever
