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Daylight savings time and your health
Medical experts are warning that the medical impacts of Daylight Savings Time may be even worse this year.
Daylight Savings Time ends this weekend, and while we'll gain an hour of sleep on Sunday, according to experts the shorter days aren't always good for our mental health, which can also lower your ability to fight infections.
"The days getting shorter impacts on people's sleep cycles and if you're not getting enough sleep or adequate sleep, that can lower your threshold to getting sick," said Dr. Purvi Parikh, an immunologist at NYU Langone Health. "You're more susceptible to catching COVID-19, the flu, any infection, especially if you're not sleeping well, if you're stressed or depressed and htat frequently happens around Daylight Savings Time."
As many as 10 million people suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder during the winer months, and many of those same people are already fighitng depression and anxiety brought on by the pandemic.
"Winter people are more depressed, they're anxious, they're stressed out because they're not getting sunlight, which is very good for all of our moods," Parikh said.