Researchers in Sweden have found the day after we set our clocks back we reduce our risk of death or hospitalization from a hear attack by 5%. A description of the study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine by Dr. Imre Janszky of the Karolinska Institute and Dr. Rickard Ljung of Sweden’s National Board of Health and Welfare.

The study, based on 20 years of records, also found that moving clocks forward in spring causes the opposite. There are more heart attacks the week after the start of daylight saving time.

Dr. Janszky describes the idea for studying this stemming from his own problems adjusting to the spring time change. “I was on the bus, quite sleepy, and I thought of this,” said Janszky. Mondays are the worst days for heart attacks. Changing the time to increase a person’s sleep likely reduces stress at the start of the workweek. The first three days of the week had the most noticeable changes in the study

For more information you can visit the New England Journal: www.nejm.com