Moving the Clock Forward can be an Afib Trigger

[mjames1]

Apparently, losing that extra hour of sleep can trigger afib with some of us.

Following is an excerpt from an article from heart.org's newsroom.

“We don’t really know the specific reason for increases in heart disease and stroke during the daylight saving time change, but it likely has something to do with the disruption to the body's internal clock, or its circadian rhythm,” said American Heart Association President Donald M. Lloyd-Jones, M.D., Sc.M., FAHA, chair of the department of preventive medicine, the Eileen M. Foell Professor of Heart Research and professor of preventive medicine, medicine and pediatrics at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. “If you are already at risk for cardiovascular disease, the time change could be even more risky. It’s important to work on improving your health risk factors all year long, and there are some specific steps you can take to prepare for the impact of ‘springing forward’ each spring.”

. Start now getting as much light as possible each day. This can help adjust your body rhythm for the change to come.

. Start winding down a little earlier in the evenings ahead. While you can never make up lost sleep, going into the time change well-rested can help.

. Don’t compensate with extra caffeine. It may feel like an extra coffee or two can help you through the mid-day slump, but too much caffeine is not heart healthy.

. Don’t take a nap. Most people don’t get enough sleep at any time; adding a cat nap to your afternoon can make it even harder to sleep well that night.

Jim

[Paulbounce]

Thanks for sharing Jim. I agree sleep is VERY important for us afibbers.

Paul

[CDreamer]

The hour change upsets the circadian rhythm, but you don’t have to follow it! I take about a week to adjust my sleep window - just ditch the alarm clock and adjust about 10 mins a day.

[Ilovedogs12]

Interesting. I always have bother for a week or so when we change the clocks, it's like I have jet lag although it's only an hour.

[OzJames]

thanks mate for posting, very interesting

[Auriculaire]

Only a problem to those who have to get up at a set hour . If you are retired you can do as CDreamer suggests. Getting up an hour later - easy on a Sunday- means you don't actually miss any sleep at all. There is far too much prescriptiveness about sleep these days. Research shows that this idea of getting a straight 7-8 hours sleep a night is a recent ( historically ) phenomena and was brought about by the introduction of artificial lighting and more importantly industrialisation of the workplace. Before people used to sleep in 2 parts with a period of waking and activity in between. In hot countries until the introduction of air con it was normal to take a long siesta in the hottest part of the day and go to bed much later in the evening. I remember being shocked on my first visits to Italy in the 60s and early 70s that everything except bars and restaurants shut down for 4/5 hours in the afternoon. Now the whole world is expected to move to the rhythm of the workaholic American culture.

[Popepaul]

An interesting point. I recently read a book entitled Why We Sleep. It generally extols the benefits of good sleep. The author makes the point that when the clocks go forward the death rate spikes and the rates reduces when the clocks go back. He says that the data is the same for all countries that resort to daylight saving by altering the local time twice per year.

[Auriculaire in reply to Popepaul]

Which would not have happened before modern times! Daylight saving is to do with industry and kids going to school in the dark .

[Popepaul in reply to Auriculaire]

Very true.

[2learn]

Hi, I suffer from sleep apnoea and wish I could have a good nights sleep, I'm sure all my health problems AF, arthritis etc would improve. I use CPAP mask but in 6 yrs it has made no difference.