Fall is in the air and it’s time to turn back our clocks this weekend.
Daylight Saving Time ends Sunday at 2 a.m. That’s when we turn our clocks back one hour. But it also means we get an extra hour of sleep.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
Research shows the extra hour could make a huge difference in our overall health.
“Turning your clocks back decreases your risk of heart attacks, your rate of stroke, heart failure, and atrial fibrillation, because that extra 40 minutes of sleep actually is very important to our circadian rhythm,” said Dr. Jayne Morgan, Vice President of Medical Affairs for Hello Heart.
TRENDING STORIES
- Peaches sold at Kroger, other stores nationwide recalled for Listeria concerns
- Government shutdown: Some Georgia troops say their paychecks were short by hundreds of dollars
- LIST: Here are some of the companies that have cut jobs recently
The new study from Stanford University found that for human’s internal clocks, having a single time would be better for overall health rather than switching back and forth. The study also found that standard time had slightly better health benefits than daylight saving time.
“Our bodies really want to wake up at a certain time when the sun is up and go to sleep when the sun comes down,” Morgan said.
Jamie Zeitzer is one of the study’s authors and co-director of the Center for Sleep and Circadian Sciences at Stanford.
He said that health benefits are only one aspect of keeping a single time. There’s also economics and people’s personal preferences.
“There is no time policy that you can have that will make everyone happy,” he said.
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
©2025 Cox Media Group
