So, Sunday morning at 2:00 am marks the end of Daylight Saving Time. You'll technically "gain" an hour of sleep, unless you are in Arizona or Hawaii, the only two states that do not observe Daylight Saving Time. While that extra hour of sleep is pretty fantastic, many people lament "falling back" because it means less daylight and shorter days.
There are documented health benefits and risks associated with the changing of the clocks. In 2008, a report was published in The New England Journal of Medicine citing a study that showed that in the first few days following the end of Daylight Saving Time, sleep patterns were affected to the degree that they actually had an effect on the frequency of heart attacks in the days following the time change. The study found that people were less likely to have a heart attack in the days following the fall time change, likely due to the fact that they were getting a bit more sleep (which affects the cardiovascular system.) Conversely, the rate went UP in the spring as people lost an hour of sleep.
The moral of the story?
LB will be more likely to have an alarm malfunction on Monday (even though we gain an hour) than he will be to have a heart attack.
