A look at daylight savings

Last Sunday, we performed the annual switch of our clocks back to daylight saving time.

That requires us to sacrifice an hour of well-needed slumber in order to move our clocks ahead one hour so that we can gain an extra hour of sunlight in the afternoon and evening and start moving toward those long lazy hazy days of summer.

I often wondered growing up why we do this. The apparent side effects are that the hour of light we enjoyed in the morning now disappears temporarily into the pre-dawn darkness in order to "move it" to the end of the day.

At one time, there was a point for moving this hour around. Proponents of daylight saving time claimed it saved energy by shifting the darkness to a time when most people are asleep while providing longer hours of daylight for farmers and those who work outdoors supposedly saving electricity and energy. I have to wonder if this is truly the case. There have been studies that show while there might be some marginal saving, all this time shifting wreaks havoc on people.

Because of that loss of an hour of sleep, people tend to be more tired in the days following a daylight saving time shift. This leads to sluggishness and exhaustion which contributes to car crashes and workplace accidents, leading one to wonder if we really do gain enough for such an arbitrary change. Also, studies have been conducted that show apparent extra stress on people which manifests in cardiac arrest. A recent study written about in the science journal Live Science says that there is an increase in heart attacks on the Monday following a switch to daylight saving time. They actually quoted the increase as being about 24 percent when compared with average numbers of cardiac arrests before or after the switch week.

Not everyone observes daylight saving time however. According to www.timeanddate.com, almost half of the world does not observe daylight saving time.

In fact, even in the United States, parts of Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii and some of our territories do not move their clocks forward for the switch. One news story said Connecticut actually outlawed daylight saving time, making it illegal to move the clocks forward by that hour. According to an article in Time magazine, the farmers in Connecticut rallied against the city folk. The farmers wanted the extra hour to stay in the morning while the city folk wanted it in the evening. The farmers fought the city folk and actually passed a law against the shift but there were no penalties. The mayors in most of the cities defied the measure and passed proclamations declaring their residents move the clocks ahead.

The whole issue came to a head when the clerks walked out on the farmer members of the legislature paralyzing the state capital. A member of the city faction offered legislation to hire four commissioners to inspect the watches and timepieces of people on the street and fining those who were using daylight saving time.

The final resolution to the matter was the cities used daylight saving time while the state and railroads maintained standard time, however, they moved their schedules ahead to keep peace with those on daylight saving time. The farmers then moved forward making it illegal in Connecticut in 1924 to publicly display clocks with daylight saving time, requiring them to show standard time.

Eventually, Connecticut fell in line with the nation and adopted the use of daylight saving time so that today almost every state, save those mentioned above, use daylight saving time during the year.

My personal experience has been that while I like the extra hour during the evening, I really cannot stand getting up in the dark to go to work. I also do not like having to remember which weekend is the one in which we spring forward or fall back in the autumn. While the idea of moving the clocks forward helps to provide an initial herald of spring, I do not enjoy it enough to really be happy with the benefit.

Several years ago, my wife bought me a desk clock that automatically switched to daylight saving time and back to standard time. It worked really well for about two years until the government decided to move the start and end dates for daylight saving time. They claimed it was to save energy and add some extra light. I personally found the excuse annoying and unnecessary, like so much the government does. Well, needless to say my perfect clock that kept perfect time and switched automatically now does neither without help.

Twice each season, I have to change the settings to make the clock accurate, which is more than a regular clock, not less. The first time I switch it is to account for the early spring forward, then when the clock thinks it is really daylight saving time, I have to switch it again or it would be too far ahead. In the fall, I have to reverse the changes to keep it accurate.

In the end, my time saving innovation becomes more of a time wasting pain to keep updated. In the end, I'm really not sure it is worth it, however, I must admit the longer evenings do have their benefits.

Till next time …