Reacción a "Not changing the time in summer or winter in the US would reduce strokes and obesity, according to a study"

This Stanford study in PNAS conveys a very important message: maintaining a stable schedule that is aligned with natural light has clear health benefits. Using models applied to the entire US population, the authors show that reducing the “circadian load” — that is, the desynchronisation between our biological clock and the environment — is associated with less obesity and fewer strokes. This goes a step beyond what we already knew: not only do the spring and autumn time changes cause acute sleep problems, accidents and heart attacks, but the schedule we maintain on a permanent basis also influences our long-term health.

In Spain, this discussion carries even more weight. For decades, our country has been living in a time zone that does not correspond to its geographical position: we are about an hour ahead of the sun. This encourages more evening habits, we go to bed later and accumulate sleep debt. Therefore, it is not enough to decide whether or not to maintain the time changes: we should also opt for the healthiest time zone, which would be the one that corresponds to us naturally — GMT0 — or at least GMT+1, but not remain in GMT+2, which further exacerbates the gap between sunlight and our social schedules. The underlying message is clear: the more aligned we are with the sun, the better it is for our circadian, metabolic and cardiovascular health.