# Daylight Saving Time: Does springing forward cause heart attacks?

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/normal-curves-sexy-science-serious-statistics-7212156/daylight-saving-time-does-springing-forward-cause-heart-attacks
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/normal-curves-sexy-science-serious-statistics-7212156/daylight-saving-time-does-springing-forward-cause-heart-attacks.md
Podcast: [Normal Curves: Sexy Science, Serious Statistics](https://stenobird.com/podcast/normal-curves-sexy-science-serious-statistics-7212156)
Published: 2026-03-09T11:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://www.normalcurves.com/daylight-saving-time-does-springing-forward-cause-heart-attacks
Audio file: https://op3.dev/e/media.transistor.fm/fd3df67c/887c7e47.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/normal-curves-sexy-science-serious-statistics-7212156/episodes/daylight-saving-time-does-springing-forward-cause-heart-attacks
Duration seconds: 3885

## Resource

Every year we spring forward and lose an hour of sleep. But do we also lose a few heart cells? Some headlines claim that heart attacks spike by 24% after daylight saving time begins. In this episode we trace that number back to the research behind it—and what we find is more complicated than the headlines suggest. We examine a famous New England Journal of Medicine letter, a large international meta-analysis, and a massive modern U.S. registry study. Along the way we talk about incidence ratios, relative versus absolute risk, negative controls, and a haunting concept called harvesting. Plus: why bar charts are not for numerical data, why journalists love dramatic numbers, and how a bug collector helped invent daylight saving time. Statistical topics Incidence ratios / incidence rates Meta-analysis Negative controls Relative risk vs absolute risk Statistical vs practical significance Statistical Sleuthing Methodological morals “A bump in time isn’t always a bump in total.” “If you already know the story you want to tell, you can always find a number to tell it.” References Bourke, India. “An obsessed insect hunter: The creepy-crawly origins of daylight saving.” BBC Future , March 31, 2024. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240308-how-first-suggestions-of-daylight-savings-time-was-inspired-by-insects Fox-Skelly, Jasmin. “How Daylight Saving Time Affects Your Health.” BBC Future , October 25, 2025. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20251024-how-daylight-saving-time-affects-our-health Hurst A, Morfeld P, Lewis P, Erren TC. Daylight Saving Time Transitions and Risk of Heart Attack . Dtsch Arztebl Int . 2024;121(15):490-496. doi:10.3238/arztebl.m2024.0078 Janszky I, Ljung R. Shifts to and from daylight saving time and incidence of myocardial infarction . N Engl J Med . 2…

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/normal-curves-sexy-science-serious-statistics-7212156/episodes/daylight-saving-time-does-springing-forward-cause-heart-attacks/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/normal-curves-sexy-science-serious-statistics-7212156/daylight-saving-time-does-springing-forward-cause-heart-attacks.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.