A doctor with unique experience with the health damage of the time of daylight has revealed why he supports Donald Trump's idea to remove it.
After training in Maryland and Connecticut, both of which are complying with change, Dr. Zaid Fadul to Arizona, one of the two American states who don't perceive it.
The doctor told DailyMail.com: 'In Connecticut you would see a peak in car accident, heart attacks, around DST for a few days.
“The patients who came in would not say that it was up to DST, but they would say things like:” I am much tired than usual, I don't know what happened “.
'There were a number of cases [with heart attacks, for example] Where I thought: “Yes, this is due to the change in the clocks”. “
He added: “But we don't see this in Arizona.”
This Sunday, 48 of the 50 states of America will bring their bells forward at 2 a.m. – Hawaii is the only other place that will not comply with the change.
Dr. Fadul and a coalition of other doctors trains against DST, call it 'outdated' and say that it increases the risk of heart attacks, strokes, insomnia, suicides, car accidents and even cancer due to the sleep disorders it causes.
Doctors urge the authorities to give up the twice -year clock change that was officially applied in almost every state in 1966
And the Trump administration seems to agree, where Elon Musk is launching a poll today and asks people if – if DST is canceled – they prefer clocks that are an hour earlier or an hour later.
President Trump also indicated his resistance to DST and said in December that the clock change was 'uncomfortable' and 'very expensive for our nation'.
Dr. Fadul said: 'I am against DST because I think it is outdated and is not a real goal at the moment. It only disrupts sleep patterns and creates damage to planning meetings or aircraft or whatever.
“If you look at society today, we have also completely left the use of the sun as a means to keep time.”
Losing an hour's sleep when the clocks are forward, results in an increase in inflammation, stress hormones and exhaustion, which increases the risk of countless health problems.
This is because it disrupts the circadian rhythm of the body – or internal clock – by force an abrupt shift in the timing of exposure to light. Scientists say it can also take up to a week before the body recovers from the time change.
A study from 2014 that followed hospital admissions in the state of Michigan showed that for heart attacks it rose by 24 percent on the Monday after the switch to DST.
Another 2016 Study from Finland showed that the total risk of a stroke increased eight percent during the first two days after changing the clocks.
And in January last year, scientists published a study that suggested that standard time was the optimum choice for health and safety throughout the year.
Dr. Fadul said that although studies clearly demonstrated an increase in hospital admissions for a few days after DST started at the local level, the difference is more subtle.
“It's a small increase,” he said.
It is not clear how many extra deaths or hospital admissions causes the time change, but a 2020 study from the University of Colorado-Boulder suggested that DST can cause a peak of six percent in deaths due to fatal car accidents every year, or 30 extra fatalities.
During the First World War, DST was implemented nationally in the US during the First World War as an attempt to save an hour of fuel every day, and again in 1942 during the Second World War.
Dr. Zain Fadul, who called to delete DST
In 1966 the Uniform Time Act was adopted to standardize DST nationally, with only two states – Hawaii and Arizona, which have consistent daylight hours all year round – secure an exemption.
In 2022, the Senate approved a law that aimed to make DST permanent, although this later failed in the house.
Worldwide, 61 countries and areas use DST – including the UK and many American allies in Europe.
President Trump supported the efforts in December and said on his Platform Truth Social: “The Republican party will use its best efforts to eliminate daylight savings, which has a small but strong constituency, but that should not be!”
Dr. Shelby Harris, a specialist in the field of behavioral medicine in New York City, said she could not see any disadvantages to spend time saving daylight.
“I see no disadvantages,” she told DailyMail.com, “it would just mean that people have a little less light at night, but that's not so bad. Our body is really meant to stay in standard time all year round.
“Auto -crashes are more a problem due to sleep loss and losing an hour's sleep increases the risk.”
She said that she does not tend to see a peak in patients around the time that DST is brought in, but said that among her insomnia patients many are worried that the clock change means that they do not get enough sleep.
Dr. Fadul completed his residence in Connecticut between 2010 and 2013. He does not work in the there in Arizona, but has spoken with doctors who are in the medical front lines of the state about the time change.
A poll by DailyMail.com revealed in January that almost half of the Americans would support Donald Trump's plan to abolish DST.
