In August 2018, a public consultation was launched at European level to find out the opinion of citizens on the time change. The result: an overwhelming majority in favor of suppressing it (805 of the voters), and a historic turnout, as some five million citizens voted , which shows that this is an issue of great concern to Europeans.
The president of the European Commission, Jean Claude Juncker, announced that he will study the elimination of winter time. The debate began in February, when the European Parliament approved a non-binding resolution for the European Commission to review the directive that regulates spring and autumn time changes. The proposal asked to review the negative impact on health that the time change has, and Finland was one of the driving countries, arguing that the energy savings of this measure is scarce, while the lack of sleep does have a negative effect on citizens.
The petition adds to an old demand for Spain to adapt to its time zone , since in our country we should have the same time as in Portugal, the United Kingdom and the Canary Islands.
What are the health effects of the time change?
The change in schedule that involves the passage from winter to spring with a greater number of hours of sunlight can generate in some sectors of the population tiredness, general malaise, drowsiness and even mood changes. This is stated by experts from the Neurophysiology service of the Ntra. Sra. De Candelaria University Hospital (HUNSC) of the Canary Islands, who recall that these small alterations are normal effects that are overcome in a short period of time of between 3 and 7 days . And that they happen because the functions of the most important organs of the human being depend on the manufacture and secretion of hormones directly linked to the cycles of wakefulness and sleep – cortisol and melatonin -, in such a way that when the clocks are advanced one hour, a desynchronization between internal and environmental rhythms.
The onset of melatonin secretion occurs in the late afternoon, approximately at 7:00 p.m. and its maximum production is recorded between 2:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. When we wake up in daylight, the cortisol level is already on the rise to activate the human being.
According to the SINC agency, the neurophysiologists of the Ntra. Sra. De Candelaria University Hospital recall that there are treatments that involve the use of chronobiotics, capable of accelerating the synchronization of our circadian system with the environment and new schedule, among which are the phototherapy and melanin. But that the little annoyances of the spring time change are easily overcome with diet and exercise .
