Dr. Saleh Aldasouqi says daylight saving time is dangerous for some of his patients.
"It creates some chaos in the body, if you will," the endocrinologist said.
He says because hormone releases are triggered by, among other things, time of day and amount of sunlight, changing both abruptly can cause undue stress on the human body.
For those who don't create their own hormones, like diabetics with insulin, the machines that help them regulate it have to be told about the time change too.
People with diabetes and insulin pumps, forgetting to change the time on the pump could lead to dangerously low blood sugar.
"Hypoglycemia is very dangerous, and if it is very bad patients can faint, they can go into a coma, they can have seizures," Aldasouqi said.
Since insulin (in pumps and naturally) is delivered according to the time of day, Aldasouqi says patients have to be vigilant about setting the clock on their pumps "in order to get the right amount of insulin at the right time."
He says he's also read studies that say there are more heart attacks the Monday after the time change. That's why Aldasouqi supports Michigan State Representatives Pete Lucido (R-Shelby Township) and Jeff Irwin (D-Ann Arbor) who each introduced bills to get rid of daylight saving time in the state.
"If I had the chance to vote, I would vote it off and out of our lives," the doctor said.
Both bills are currently in committee in the House. Lucido says he hasn't heard from anybody who's against the idea.
Lucido says he wants the whole state to be on Central Time year-round and there's no logical reason to force people to lose sleep and change their clocks twice a year.
Daylight Saving begins Sunday, March 12 at 2:00 a.m.
