Sleep disorder doctors call for Spain to be in UK time zone

DOCTORS specialising in sleep disorders have called for Spain to go back an hour in time.

Although the Canary Islands is on the same time lag as the UK, Portugal and Morocco, mainland Spain and the Balearics are an hour ahead of their correct geographical location and should, in fact, be on GMT in the winter, and BST in the summer.

The Spanish Sleep Society (SES), at its conference in Lleida – attended by over 200 experts in the field – says residents are 'deprived of sleep' because of being in the same time zone as countries where the sun comes up an hour and a half earlier, 'such as Berlin'.

“Time schedules which do no coincide with the daylight cycle are imposed on us, and this leads to a lack of sleep,” says psychologist Francisco Mercado.

The main hurdle to switching Spain back to GMT – as it was before the Civil War, when dictator Franco wanted the country to be on the same time lag as his allies in Berlin – is 'political inertia', says the Association for Rationalising Spanish Hours (ARHOE).

For example, television channels broadcasting peak ratings shows late at night, after 23.00hrs, including international football matches, meaning most TV fans do not switch off until around 01.00hrs, only to have to get up between 07.00hrs and 08.00hrs for work the next day.

Mediapro director Tatxo Benet says TV is 'an entertainment business which adapts to consumers' habits' and 'channels its resources into the time slots with the highest audience ratings'.

Chairman of the SES, Dr Joaquín Terán-Santos, stresses that poor-quality or lack of sleep heightens the risk of high blood pressure five-fold, which can lead to cardio-vascular problems such as heart attacks and strokes.

He adds that studies have shown sleeping fewer than six hours a night increases the risk of suffering cancer.

Sleep has an anti-inflammatory effect on the body, and those who do not get enough are more likely to suffer from excess body weight because of cravings for food higher in fat and complex carbohydrates, Dr Terán-Santos reveals.

He concludes that sleep disorders are 'under-diagnosed' because of 'lack of health service funding' and 'no regulated and organised structure', meaning even some of Spain's top hospitals do not have a sleep-disorder unit.

“We're faced with over 300,000 patients who do not get any medical help,” Dr Terán-Santos states.

“And only one in five are ever even diagnosed with a sleep disorder.”