We are once again “saving
daylight” since we went back on daylight savings time (DST) on Sunday, March
10, 2013. I do not like DST; specifically,
I do not appreciate switching my clocks – both my timepieces and my body clock
- twice each year. If DST is so great,
why don’t we stay on that schedule all year long?
I
have wondered for years why Alaska even bothers with daylight savings time
because it does not see to make much difference. In the period of time between March 21 and
September 21 each year, Alaskans enjoy more daylight than darkness. We do not really need an additional hour of light
in the evening when the sun sets at 11:00 p.m. or later! The long hours of daylight keep all of us
outside longer than we need to be; they particularly make it more difficult to
get children settled down for the night.
I
was quite surprised when a good friend stated that DST is her favorite time of
year! Her statement made me think more
seriously about DST, and my opinion of DST began to change after reading
several articles about it.
There
are two different thoughts about DST.
One group of thinkers wonders if daylight savings time has served its
cause and is now causing more problems that it is solving. Rick Moran is just one of
the people who wonder if it is time to “dump daylight savings time.” He claims that increasingly more people are
calling for an end of the practice for health reasons as well as to save
energy.
JosephSerna at the LA Times which
referenced several studies showing negative effects of daylight savings
time: “61% of U.S. adults say daylight
saving time affects their work the Monday after the changeover;” the changeover
affects “people’s moods to eating and driving habits;” “there’s a 6% to 10%
increase in heart attacks in the first three workdays after the start of
daylight saving time;” “men were more likely to commit suicide in the first few
weeks after the switch,” accidents “increased by 11% the Monday after the
change,” and “stock markets [are] more volatile the Monday after a time change”
– usually leading to “negative returns.”
On
the other side of the discussion, Glenn Doi and Don Nagasaki gave a short
history lesson about DST and believe there is value in keeping it. “The extra hour of sunlight helps businesses
in general because many people, primarily for safety reasons, simply do not
like to drive or shop at night. As
realtors, the extra hour of usable sunlight gives us an extra hour to conduct
business during weekdays, because many potential buyers who are looking at
houses after work, want to see the houses, and their surrounding neighborhoods,
while there is still daylight.
“But
the main reason daylight savings time is a benefit for most Americans, is that
it gives people one more hour of `usable’ daylight. Most working people … wake up, get themselves
ready, scoot off to work, and later return home from work. If there is an extra hour of sunlight in the
morning, particularly during summer, it’s wasted. It’s after work that the average
person plays ball with his kid, rides his bike, or goes shopping – activities that
many people don’t want to do during the nighttime. So even though DST began as a way to save
energy, it has become a quality-of-life issue.”
Problems
that come from changing to and from daylight savings time can be compared to
jet lag and can be solved in similar ways.
The best thing we can do is in both cases is to take several days to
adjust sleeping and waking times. Whether
we are “springing forward” or “falling back, we can start on Friday to adjust
our “inner clocks” and make several small changes – say fifteen minutes – per day
over the weekend; we can prepare our bodies to make the adjustment and be better
prepared for Monday morning.
Today
I overheard a conversation between my daughter and her husband about the
advantages of DST. They will now have
daylight after work to play disc golf or go boating. Their son’s baseball practices and games will
start a little later and be more convenient.
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