Daylight Saving and the Risk of Depression

Twice a year the conversation turns to the real value of Daylight Saving Time. And as we get set to turn our clocks back tonight (Saturday night), we’re hearing once again there may be far bigger costs than gains.

An increased risk of car accidents, heart attack and stroke have long been associated with springing ahead an hour in the spring — and a higher risk of depression has been linked to gaining an extra hour each November as we “fall back.”

Parents of young children reap few rewards: Their children’s internal clocks stay the same no matter what.

A recent study from Denmark showed just how prevalent the risk of depression may be: Data from psychiatric hospitals in Denmark show the rate of depression jumped 11 percent when people set their clocks back to standard time for the winter.

In fact, the diagnosis increased immediately after the transition from daylight saving time to standard time, and it remained roughly eight percent higher than expected throughout the month.

“We probably benefit less from the daylight in the morning between seven and eight, because many of us are either in the shower, eating breakfast or sitting in a car or bus on the way to work or school,” Søren D. Østergaard, an associate professor and one of five researchers behind the study, from Aarhus University Hospital in Risskov, said in a statement. “When we get home and have spare time in the afternoon, it is already dark.”

The parents of young children also reap few rewards: The kids’ internal clocks are going to stay the same, no matter what the time gods have to say about it.

Related: Debunking Daylight Saving Time

Turning the clocks back is a carryover idea from, reportedly, Benjamin Franklin (although actual evidence of that origin is scant). More likely, it was just a wartime effort that began in Europe during World War I to make more use of daylight. It continued sporadically through World War II, and then became standard practice after the Uniform Time Act of 1966.

Arizona doesn’t practice Daylight Saving, and residents in Arizona often use it as an excuse to mock the rest of America for these antics. “They’re 90 percent crazy, at least,” said Darci Cole, author and mother of two boys in Mesa, Arizona. She said the folklore around why Arizonans refuse to “spring forward and fall back” is because the drive-in movie theaters would then have to wait until 9:00 p.m. to start their movies.

In reality, it’s unclear why the Arizona state government chose to forego the time culture of the rest of the country. The reigning theory is that energy conservation analysts posited that residents would continue running their coolers longer than they should because the sun was out further into the evening — thus wasting precious resources. But if that was the case, it would seem New Mexico would follow suit, considering it has a similar climate.

Mom Darci Cole said the early sunset is a good thing for her boys’ bedtimes. “The sun goes down at 6:30 or 7:00, and they go to bed. We don’t have to explain why they’re going to bed when the sun is still up.”

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