Spring is one of the best seasons there is — if not the best. It marks the end of a long, cold winter and the start of sunshine and free time. But the worst part about these next few months is the Great Spring Forward, otherwise known as Daylight Saving Time.
Every year, the clock changes twice: once in the spring, when we lose an hour, and once again in the fall, when we gain it back. The purpose of this ritual is to make better use of daylight while we have it — or so they say. But in the words of Dave Barry, “You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe Daylight Saving Time.”
Many have tried, though. Proponents of the practice like to cite Benjamin Franklin, who reportedly approved of the idea back in the Founding era. But he didn’t do so for any timeless prudential reasons, as some like to claim. Rather, Franklin believed moving the clocks forward would help everyone save money on candles and lamp oil.
This was the exact purpose the U.S. government had in mind when it first implemented Daylight Saving Time in 1942. It was a wartime effort to conserve energy, and the states weren’t allowed to make the switch back to standard time until 1945.
Another justification for Daylight Savings Time is that it helps farmers. But Michael Downing, the author of the book Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time, said farmers were actually the “only organized lobby against daylight saving in the history of the country.” They opposed it “vociferously,” he said, which is why the U.S. government didn’t nationalize the practice until 1966.
Though we can’t seem to agree why Daylight Saving Time was introduced in the first place, most people realize it’s here to stay. Some legislators even want to make the Great Spring Forward our permanent time, meaning that we wouldn’t have to revert our clocks back an hour come November. Their bill, called the Sunshine Protection Act, argues that the biannual time change is unnecessary and, in some cases, harmful.
The data would agree. Medical professionals have sounded the alarm about Daylight Saving Time’s negative effects for years. In one study, hospitals reported a 24% increase in heart attacks on the Monday after the spring time change. Another study by the National Institutes of Health found that nearly 150,000 people experienced physical health problems caused by the time changes, including strokes, heart attacks, accidents, and changes in mood.
The problem, according to Dr. Joseph Takahashi, the chairman of the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, is that Daylight Saving Time artificially changes the circadian clocks in our body. This means we’re not just losing sleep by bumping the clocks forward an hour. We’re actually forcing our bodies to change the biological mechanism that regulates our cells and genes, which can lead to all sorts of disorders, said Takahashi.
It’s time to choose: Get rid of Daylight Saving Time and make standard time permanent or vice versa. Or you could move to Hawaii, which doesn’t practice Daylight Saving Time at all. I’m already packing my bags.
