No, let’s not spring forward
The worst weekend of the year is here once more. Yes, this weekend marks that awful period when most of the United States brings back daylight saving time and millions of people lose sleep. On Saturday, remember to set clocks forward (thus losing that precious hour) and be prepared to be tired for days, if not weeks. Antiquated and unnecessary, daylight saving time officially turns 100 this year. Enacted on March 19, 1918, by the U.S. government as a way to conserve coal during World War I, the practice fell by the wayside fairly quickly. Only local governments kept it alive. In 1966, daylight saving time was brought back to the national level once more.
On Saturday, all the locations in the U.S. that use daylight saving time will spring forward at 2 a.m. Saturday night/ Sunday morning, jumping from 2 a.m. until 3 a.m., essentially killing an hour of time. In return, the days will be full of light longer into the evening. The trade-off is not worth upsetting our body clocks, both in the spring and then, in the fall, when standard time returns — even the extra hour of sleep on the day when clocks are placed an hour back isn’t worth the adjustment.
The Sunday morning after we “spring forward,” it’s common to have pews half-filled at churches. Congregants have slept in or forgotten to change their clocks. Those sleepy folks will show up just as services are letting out. The damage doesn’t stop there. On the Monday after daylight saving time starts, students will show up for school tired and crabby. It is difficult to sleep when it is so light out. To make bedtime easier, make sure to get youngsters tired on Sunday. Take a hike, or go swimming, but let the kids be physically exhausted so they can sleep.
We have written several times about the folly of making people adjust their clocks twice yearly for no good reason. What might have been a necessary wartime sacrifice, and then a way to save energy by keeping it light in the evening, is a custom that literally can make people ill.
The need to save coal for war is over now, while any perceived energy savings because lights don’t have to be turned on at night might not exist. Savings in electrical use are eaten up by additional use of air conditioning, studies have shown. It appears the extra hour of daylight in the evening prompts people to use their cars and trucks more, increasing gasoline use as well.
Loss of sleep can cause lingering damage, too, and Americans with Seasonal Affective Disorder could be hurt by receiving less light in the morning. Additional heart attacks and traffic accidents have been linked to the time change, although it’s not clear that’s the cause. Still, it’s heartening to note that states such as Arizona, Hawaii and some territories have done away with daylight saving time, and their residents seem just fine.
This year in Florida, lawmakers passed the beautifully named Sunshine Protection Act — by a wide margin in both houses of the Legislature — sending it to the governor for signature. It keeps Florida on daylight saving time year-round. Unfortunately, while the federal government allows states to opt out of daylight saving time — standard time year-round is OK — permanent sunshine may not be allowed.
In New Mexico, we have written before about the noble efforts of Roswell Sen. Cliff Pirtle to get New Mexico off Daylight Saving Time. He wants the state to stop moving the clocks, but thinks a move to the Central time zone would work well, too. We’re with him on no more twice-yearly time changes but less persuaded that New Mexico should leave the Mountain time zone.
We can debate which permanent time zone works best next year, once the Legislature returns to Santa Fe. This weekend, we’ll just be trying to get some sleep after springing forward.