BG 3-10-24

“Tank full? Call Fuller!”

SERVICES OFFERED:

• Septic tanks vacuum cleaned


• Septic systems inspected


• Effluent filters installed and
  serviced

Is it time to have your

Septic System pumped?

Tanks should be pumped every 2 to 3 years

to avoid expensive drainfield failure!

Call your local professionals at

Fuller Septic Services

616-897-3050 • [email protected]

Serving septic needs in your community for over 50 years.

Owned and operated by Stoneybrook Sanitation, MDEQ license # 41-

Solutons to puzzles from page 6

Every second Sunday
in March marks the start
of Daylight Saving Time
(DST), the annual period
of the year the clocks are
shifted one hour ahead. DST
officially starts at 2 a.m. on
Sunday, March 10.
Jumping the clock
forward and back to
standard time every year
was designed as a way to
optimize daylight hours,
which supposedly nets
energy savings, prevents

traffic accidents and

reduces crime, according

to the U.S. Department

of Transportation. But for

those who live in states that

practice DST (Arizona and

Hawaii are the only U.S.

states that don’t), research

is increasingly showing that

the annual time change can

actually have unintended

detrimental consequences to

health.

In fact, the American

Academy of Sleep

Medicine (AASM) cites

short- and long-term health

risks as the basis of their

argument for doing away

with changing the clocks

altogether, according to

a statement published

October 2020 in the Journal

of Clinical Sleep Medicine.

And in the last four years,

18 states have introduced

legislation to eliminate

the clock change, per the

National Conference of

State Legislatures — though

federal law does not yet

allow states to adopt full-

time DST.

Can losing one hour of

sleep really do that much

harm? Research says yes

Cutting sleep short

one hour one night might

not sound that detrimental

to health on first glance,

says Michael Awad, MD,

chief of sleep surgery at

Northwestern Medicine in

Chicago. But, the lost hour

can have significant effects,

especially among the many

of us sleeping less than the

recommended seven to nine

hours that is recommended

to begin with, Awad

explains.

Research published

February 2020 in Current

Biology revealed that the

onset of DST in the spring is

associated with a 6 % surge

in fatal car crashes during

the first week. “That’s a

really significant number,”

Awad says.

Similarly, a study

published October 2018 in

the Journal of Biological

Rhythms found a significant

uptick in general accidents

and emergency room visits

after the start of DST in the

spring.

And in a study

published January 2021

in the Journal of General

Internal Medicine that

followed healthcare workers

across multiple states for

eight years, researchers

found there was an 18 %

increase in safety-related

human errors on average for

the first week of DST in the

spring.

DST disrupts our

body clock, which throws

off a lot more than just

sleep

“The body doesn’t do

very well when it’s asked

to live in a different time

zone,” says Elizabeth

B. Klerman, MD, PhD,

professor of neurology at

Harvard Medical School and

sleep research investigator

at Massachusetts General

Hospital in Boston.

Changing the clocks for

DST has similar effects to

jet lag, which we know can

be damaging to health over

the long run.

Many body systems

and processes (like sleep,

digestion, and heart

function) follow circadian

rhythms, or patterns that stay

consistent from day to day

(roughly every 24 hours).

These circadian rhythms

trigger physical, mental, and

behavioral changes in the

body that keep us healthy

— hormones get released

in the morning to boost

energy and rev up digestion,

for example, according to

the National Institute of

General Medical Sciences

(NIGMS).

Cues from the sun

generally keep these

circadian rhythms on track

(via a network of cells in the

brain referred to as the “body

clock”), Awad says. But our

behaviors — sleeping in

much later than usual on a

Saturday, spending a lot of

time in the evening in front

of bright screens (which the

body registers as stimulating

sunlight), or eating a big

meal in the middle of the

night — can send mixed

messages to the body and

misalign the body’s various

circadian rhythms, too.

Traveling across time

zones and switching the

clocks for DST has a similar

effect of misaligning your

body’s clock to the one on

the wall and the rotation

of the sun, Awad explains.

DST results in more hours

of darkness in the morning,

and more hours of daylight

in the evening.

“Nighttime light and

morning darkness shift your

body to a later time, but the

social clock has moved to

an earlier time, so it’s harder

to fall asleep and people get

less sleep,” Klerman says.

“And we know that many

bad things happen from not

getting enough sleep.”

Our bodies will of

course adjust to the new

schedule after a few days or

a week, but there’s evidence

the change may still affect

our health, and more

specifically heart health.

For example, in one past

study, researchers found a

24 % increase in heart attack

risk the first Monday of

DST in the spring. That risk

tapered off over the course

of the week. Conversely,

the Tuesday following “fall

back” was associated with a

21 % risk reduction.

The mechanisms behind

this phenomenon are still up

for debate. However, it may

be that DST disrupts the

regular release of the stress

hormone cortisol, which

may increase the risk of

heart attack in older adults

and those with existing

heart problems, according

to Jamie M. Zeitzer, PhD,

an associate research

professor at the Stanford

Center for Sleep Sciences

and Medicine in Palo Alto,

Calif.

Normally, your cortisol

levels rise around the same

time every morning to give

you the energy you need to

ease out of sleep and into a

wakeful state.

“If you’re getting

up too early, that cortisol

spike hasn’t happened yet,”

Zeitzer says.

Without cortisol to help,

your heart has to work a lot

harder to get you moving

again, increasing your risk

of heart problems.

5 tips for making the

DST transition easier on

your body

While DST isn’t going

away (for now, at least),

there are ways to lessen its

negative effects.

1. Go in with a good
base of sleep
The more consistent
your sleep schedule is
before the switch, to the
less of a change your body

Tips to adjust to Daylight Saving Time

Time to ‘spring forward’ March 10