Dr. Deepa Burman: Time to “spring forward”
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On the morning of Sunday, March 9, our clocks will “spring forward” by one hour for daylight saving time—but there have been several proposals to scrap this practice.
On March 3, 2025, SciLine interviewed: Dr. Deepa Burman, an associate professor of pediatrics and co-director of the Pediatric Sleep Evaluation Center at the University of Pittsburgh. See the footage and transcript from the interview below, or select ‘Contents’ on the left to skip to specific questions.
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Introduction
[0:00:18]
DEEPA BURMAN: So, my name is Deepa Burman. I’m one of the faculty and physicians here at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. I’m co-director of the Pediatric Sleep Evaluation Center here, and my passion is to promote well-being through improving sleep health.
Interview with SciLine
What are the health impacts of losing an hour of sleep when we “spring forward”?
[0:00:46]
DEEPA BURMAN: Before I talk about what happens to our body, I actually want to talk about the three different kind of clocks that we have that sort of govern our sleep-wake schedules. Number one is the sun clock, which is the sunrise time and the sunset time. The second clock is the clock that we know of, the social clock, which is loosely based on the sun times. And the third clock is our internal body clock. Now what happens is, whenever there is a time change, whether it’s falling backwards or springing forward, our internal body clock sort of stays the same. The sun clock stays the same, but the social clock gets shifted either forwards or backwards, depending on which direction we are going. So when we are springing forward and losing that hour of sleep, the sun is still rising at the same time, however, we have changed the time to suit our needs. Now, what that does to our body is because we have a hard time adjusting and making those adjustments between those three clocks, that acute loss of sleep in that first week can not only cause irritability, mood issues. People are—people tend to be more on the edge. Students have a hard time waking up in the morning. They are have a hard time concentrating with their schoolwork. Many times, you know, there can be negative impact on our health, such as there are studies that show that chances of heart attack go up by 6% when we spring forward and lose an hour of sleep. There is an increased risk of stroke by around 8%. Motor vehicle accidents actually increased by 6% in the week following the time change. Actually, one study in Indiana shows that their heart attack rate went up by close to 25% much more than a lot of the different places in the country probably related to the time change combined with the environmental change and other changes that might happen at that time.
What are some of the economic impacts of “springing forward”?
[0:03:11]
DEEPA BURMAN: Whenever we are springing forward and losing that hour of sleep, studies have shown that in United States, we actually lose anywhere from $400 to $600 million a year because of not only loss of workplace productivity—because people are more tired at their workplace—but also increased calls of absenteeism and a phenomenon called cyberloafing, where people are at work but they are just browsing the internet and just cannot concentrate on their work and doing other stuff which are not work-related during their work hours. So that, I feel, is a huge impact on our economy as a result of this time change.
Are there specific challenges that children and adolescents experience after the time shift?
[0:04:04]
DEEPA BURMAN: Now what happens when the kids are really, really young, so the younger children, they are more resilient to the time change or losing the hour, because many times they either don’t have to go to school, or they are usually getting longer duration of sleep on a day-to-day basis, compared to the children who are going to school. Now, in this day and age with technology and other distractions present, the average bedtime is delayed. Now when we lose that hour of sleep, the children are going to bed later. However, then they have a hard time waking up in the morning. As a result of that, they are again the same impacts that we talked about in the personal impact is loss of concentration and poor memory. The same things happen during school in children, when they are going in that next week from that time change. Now this is especially important in our adolescents. The reason why is because naturally, whenever children hit that pre-teen or adolescent age group, their body clock shifts, so their tendency is to go to bed later and wake up later. However, that does not align with the school schedules. And so, when you lose that sleep, or when they lose that sleep, they are more likely to be sleep deprived above and beyond what an adult might face, and so the impact on them is higher when it comes to their learning, their concentration, especially their mood. We have seen that in the times just following the time change children can often have, or adolescents can often have an uptick in depression, anxiety, and other mood issues.
What does the evidence say about proposals to eliminate twice-yearly clock shifts in favor of permanent standard time or permanent daylight saving time?
[0:06:16]
DEEPA BURMAN: So here I want to talk about the American Academy of Sleep Medicine position statement about the time changes, which actually proposes a permanent standard time and eliminating the time changes, or the daylight saving time. Now, the reason why that is because our internal clock is more in sync with the permanent standard time. If you think about the springing forward, it actually is almost living in a different time zone. So, living in the west, not traveling to west, because when you travel to a different time zone, not only your body clock changes, but not only your social clock changes, but the sun clock also changes. However, when you’re living in a different time zone, the sun clock is the same, the body clock is the same, but the social clock changes. And so the evidence is in support of permanent standard time so that we can get more light during the day, and you know, we can prevent light in the evening. Our sleep-wake schedules is actually dictated by our circadian rhythm. Now, the strongest signal for our circadian cycles and circadian rhythm is the light-wake cycle—so the light-dark cycle. When you wake up in the morning and expose yourself to bright light, that actually gives your body a clue that it is time to wake up and time to get on with your day. Now, when there is daylight saving, you actually wake up in the dark. You take some time to get exposed to that morning light, and in the evening, when it’s time for bed, it is still light out there at nine o’clock. So, people have a hard time falling asleep. As a result, they have a hard time falling asleep at their expected bedtime, and so they have a hard time waking up in the morning at their expected wake-up time. So, the daylight saving time kind of works counterproductive to what our natural cycles are, and that is why there is a proposal to have permanent standard time, as opposed to daylight saving time, to be the permanent time.
Which is better: maintaining the current status quo or adopting permanent daylight saving time?
[0:08:44]
DEEPA BURMAN: You know, the science behind the time changes is so complex that it’s hard to come up with a set answer for this one. However, in my personal opinion, it is better to do the jump, because then when you’re falling ahead in the fall and gaining that extra hour, you’re still getting the lost sleep, as opposed to permanently living with that lost hour of sleep.
Can you share advice on minimizing the ill effects of springing forward—both generally and for parents?
[0:09:21]
DEEPA BURMAN: There are a lot of things that we can do while we are waiting for something to change in this arena. Now, the first thing that I would like to tell everyone when it comes to time changes, whether it’s falling backwards or springing forwards—more importantly so for springing forward—is to contemplate and plan ahead. As we know that many times, when we face these time changes, our bodies are tired. We are we are not able to do our day-to-day activities with the same energy that we used to before the time change. And so, planning ahead and moving your schedule by 15-minutes increments, so moving your bedtime a little bit up by 15 minutes every single day leading up to the time change is helpful. Number two, it is also helpful that before you go to bed on the day of the time change, change all your non-electronic clocks—so the clocks that do not change in your house—to the time that will happen the next day. So, move it forward—that way when you wake up in the morning your brain is not confused by looking at different times and the different clocks. Number three, making sure that you’re getting as much light as possible when you get up in the morning and in the evening, minimizing that exposure to light. Now, when I say light exposure, most people think about the sunlight, but we also live in an electronic world where the ambient light exposure is also important. So dimming those light in the evening in your house. So typically, my recommendation is cut out the light in your house by around 50% in the evening, leading up to the bedtime. This is especially important in summers, where in several places, at nine o’clock, the sun is still out. So, making sure that you close your blinds, maybe even having room-darkening curtains, those are important. And early morning exercise in the morning can help you set your rhythm and also adjusting your mealtimes, or other like exercise times, to the timings that will help you stay awake during the day and help you fall asleep at night. Now, when it comes to children and adolescents, it is also important to think about those electronics. So, turning on off those electronics, that not only includes the phones, but also a lot of homework is done on the iPads or computer these days, so making sure that if they do have those homework that needed to be completed on an iPad or computers, to do it earlier in the evening and save those paper homework for later on. Other thing is that cutting out that wine leading up to the bedtime. If you were to have a glass of wine, maybe have it more closer to the early night, as opposed to at bedtime. So, giving yourself at least a couple hours between your last drink and your bedtime. So those are some of the tips that I think can help us adjust to the time changes.
