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Daylight Dilemma: Time Change Has Serious Side Effects

DENVER (CBS4) – A petition drive is now underway to keep Colorado on Mountain Saving Time year round.

The grassroots effort to stop the time changes comes amidst mounting evidence that "springing forward" and losing an hour of sleep can have serious side effects.

"We are a society that believes sleep is for slackers," says Lisa Meltzer, a sleep psychologist at National Jewish Hospital. "But every hour counts, sleep is an essential pillar of health."

Meltzer says when the clock jumps this Sunday, March 8, from 2 a.m. to 3 a.m., there will be consequences. "Losing an hour of sleep can be dangerous for all aspects of functioning."

Meltzer points to studies which show an increase in heart attacks, a decrease in worker productivity and a decrease in student test scores in the days following the time change.

In some cases the effects can be deadly. New research out of the University of Colorado Boulder shows sleep deprived drivers get into more car crashes. The research directly links more than 300 traffic deaths to the time change, over a 10 year period.

Now a Colorado personal trainer has started a petition drive at SaveTheDaylight.co in an effort to stop the time changes altogether. Sean Johnson of Lakewood is trying to collect 89,000 valid signatures to get the issue on the 2016 ballot.

"We are trying to prevent the time changes from ever happening again in Colorado," he said.

A change to Daylight Saving Time year round would mean fewer hours of daylight in the morning and more daylight in the evening, where Johnson says more people can be active.

But not everyone agrees. Darker mornings would leave less time for ski resorts to prepare the slopes and cut into operating time. Because of the potential impact, the ski industry helped block a 2011 bill in the Colorado Legislature to make Daylight Saving Time permanent.

As the time change grows near, sleep experts say going to bed 10 minutes earlier every night will make waking up Monday morning less difficult.

Mark Ackerman is a Special Projects Producer at CBS4. Follow him on Twitter @ackermanmark

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