Risk of heart attack increases for 48 hours after moving clocks forward

Your risk of suffering from a heart attack actually increases for the two days after you move the clocks forward, according to new research.

Today, your risk of suffering from a heart attack is about 10 per cent higher, compared with any other day of the year. So why is the Monday after the daylight-savings time change so special? Well, according to a group of science-heads from the University of Alabama, the extra sleep deprivation and the sudden change in schedule results in a peak for heart attacks.

"The Monday and Tuesday after moving the clocks ahead one hour in March is associated with a 10 per cent increase in the risk of having a heart attack," reports Professor Martin Young in the Division of Cardiovascular Disease at the University of Alabama.

Funnily enough, the opposite is true in October when we change the clocks back. You’re actually 10 per cent less likely to suffer from a heart attack when the clocks go back an hour.

Apparently, the boffins at the University of Alabama aren’t exactly sure as to why you’re 10 per cent more likely to suffer a heart attack, and the above explanation is just a theory. So basically, they haven’t a blue’s clue as to why your body suddenly feels as though it’s more stressed.

The feeling of sluggishness that most of us feel on the first two working days after the daylight savings time change can be compared to jet lag. However, Professor Young has a quick fire way to help us prepare for the hour we miss out on in bed.

He says we should get up 30-minutes earlier on the Saturday and Sunday prior to the clocks changing so that are bodies adjust beforehand.

That would be great advice… if it weren’t already Monday.