BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Daylight saving time is here, and losing that one hour of sleep can have real health consequences, according to a Bakersfield doctor.
Dr. Hemmal Kothary, chief medical officer of Mercy Hospitals of Bakersfield, said the spring time change disrupts the body's circadian rhythm — its internal clock — in ways that can affect hormone levels, blood pressure and blood sugar.
"Losing that hour's worth of sleep is even more impactful than when we turn our clocks back. One, it affects certain hormones in our body. The way it does it is it messes with something called our circadian rhythm which is our own internal clock. And when it does that, it increases certain hormones in our body like one called cortisol."
As cortisol levels rise, Kothary said, blood pressure and blood sugar levels can follow.
"So it does predispose people that are at risk to having more heart attacks, more strokes throwing their sugars out of control, that's messing up that circum rhythm by reducing that number of hours you sleep that night can also increase sugar irritability the following day, your focus, your mental concentration."
For people who struggle with losing that hour of sleep, Kothary has a practical suggestion: start waking up earlier in the days leading up to the change.
"Then waking up 15 to 20 minutes earlier before your alarm set off to go to go off. What that does is it eases you into that time change. It doesn't give you a circane your rhythm that big of a shock."
Kothary also said children tend to have a harder time adjusting to the time change.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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