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Written By: Editorial Team | Published : March 31, 2014 6:48 PM IST
Do you advance your clock to deal with the Monday morning blues? How you set your clock affects not only your work schedule, but also that of heart attack, in case you were to get one, says a study led by an Indian-origin scientist. Moving the clock forward or backward may alter the timing of when heart attacks occur in the week following these time changes, the study said.
'Perhaps the reason we see more heart attacks on Monday mornings is a combination of factors, including the stress of starting a new work week and inherent changes in our sleep-wake cycle,' said Amneet Sandhu, cardiology fellow at University of Colorado in Denver. 'With daylight saving time, all of this is compounded by one less hour of sleep,' he said. (Read: Scientists identify a new gene linked to heart attacks)
Daylight saving time or summer time is the practice of advancing clocks by an hour near the start of spring so that evenings have more daylight and mornings have less. The researchers used Michigan's BMC2 (a collaborative consortium of health care providers in the State of Michigan) database, which collects data from all non-federal hospitals across the state, to identify admissions for heart attacks requiring percutaneous coronary intervention from Jan 1, 2010 through Sep 15, 2013. (Read: Expert advice: Warning signs of a heart attack)
Data from this largest study of its kind in the US revealed a 25 percent jump in the number of heart attacks occurring the Monday after we 'spring forward' compared to other Mondays during the year - a trend that remained even after accounting for seasonal variations in these events. But the study showed the opposite effect was also true. Researchers found a 21 percent drop in the number of heart attacks on the Tuesday after returning to standard time in the autumn. (Read: First aid for heart attack victims)
The study is to appear in the journal Open Heart.
What happens in a heart attack?
Most heart attacks are caused by a blood clot that blocks one of the coronary arteries. The coronary arteries bring blood and oxygen to the heart. If the blood flow is blocked, the heart is starved of oxygen and heart cells die.
A hard substance called plaque can build up in the walls of your coronary arteries. This plaque is made up of cholesterol and other cells. A heart attack can occur as a result of plaque buildup.
Causes of heart attack
The cause of heart attacks is not always known. Heart attacks may occur:
Cardiogenic shock is a state in which the heart has been damaged so much that it cannot supply enough blood to the organs of the body. This condition is a medical emergency. (Read: Heart Attacks What you should know)
With inputs from IANS
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