Daylight Saving Time May Be Health Hazard

The body relies on light cues to keep its internal clock in sync
By Sam Gale Rosen,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 30, 2007 9:56 PM CDT
Daylight Saving Time May Be Health Hazard
Internal clocks are set by natural light.   (KRT Photos)

The modern world's proliferation of artificial light is wreaking havoc on the human internal clock, which relies on natural light cues to regulate the body's cycles, scientists say. And daylight saving time makes things even worse, reports the Washington Post. "From the psychiatric perspective, the extension of daylight saving time this year was a very bad decision," says one light expert.

A cluster of neurons controls many of the body's hormones, and it's plugged directly into the eyes. This means that light exposure is vital to sleep, alertness, and hunger.
Heavy exposure to artificial light is so bad for you that women who work at night have been shown to have higher rates of breast cancer—so much so that the WHO is poised to declare shift work a "probable carcinogen." (More daylight saving time stories.)

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