How your body and mind will react when the clocks go back this month all depends on your CHRONOTYPE

The dreaded changing of the clocks is fast approaching – they’ll go back on October 27. The twice-yearly changing of the clocks can trigger health problems such as raised heart rate and blood pressure, and has been linked to a spike in road accidents Research has long shown that the ‘spring forwards’ in March, which shifts us into British Summer Time, sometimes called daylight saving time, is linked to a sharp rise in health problems such as heart attack and stroke, as well as hospital admissions for atrial fibrillation in the days after. The two clock changes every year have also been linked to an increase in road traffic accidents, possibly as the disruption to sleep and our body clocks leaves us feeling ‘jet-lagged’ and less alert. Sleep specialist Dr Kat Lederle suggests slightly tweaking your bedtime and mealtimes in the six days leading up to the clocks going back or forward to minimise disruption to your 'confused' internal system However, the good news is babies adapt quicker to ‘falling backwards’, reported the journal Sleep in May last year – this is possibly because standard time is a better match with our natural circadian rhythm. ‘That’s when we see an increase in health conditions – it affects heart rate, blood pressure and digestion, and long term we see an association between disrupted clocks and cancer risk plus fertility risk for women.’ And while some modern proponents suggest picking one or the other – British Summer Time or standard time – ‘100 per cent, I would stick with standard time’, says Dr Lederle.