Spike in Car Crashes Not Necessarily Caused By Hour Sleep Loss

Losing an hour of sleep to daylight savings time is linked to an increase in traffic accidents, according to a new study. However, a New York sleep expert says those findings are not definitive.

“It’s unclear as to whether there’s a significant increase in the rate of motor vehicle accidents from the studies I have seen (a Canadian and Swedish one),” said Harly Greenberg, MD, the medical director of the North Shore-LIJ Sleep Disorders Center and chief of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine.

“But there certainly is the potential for an impact of insufficient sleep time on vigilance and performance.”

For the study, researchers from the University of British Columbia reported a 17 percent spike in crashes during the first week of daylight savings time. The studies that Dr. Greenberg referenced found there was only a slight increase in accidents.

“So, the findings are controversial and contradictory,” he said.

And while we might still feel a little jetlagged from setting the clocks ahead on Saturday night, that sluggishness should be gone by now, said Dr. Greenberg.

“It really takes about one day to readjust to a one hour change.”