JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Well, dear readers, it’s every North American’s* favorite day of the year, the Monday after we “Spring Forward” to Daylight Savings Time, suddenly losing an hour of sleep when we wake up in the morning. The vast majority of us who live by the annual switch between Standard and Daylight Savings will bemoan when the Standard rolls around in November, suddenly plunging us into darkness at 4pm (at least where I live.) But nothing, nothing makes us feel as stabby as getting up for work an hour earlier, just to be on time.
Here in the US, our representatives, divided on so many issues, apparently feel exactly the same way the rest of us do, ie, just make it stop. Sen. Marco Rubio has re-upped The Sunshine Protection Act, which would set the continental United States on permanent Daylight Savings time, and this session, there are a LOT of co-signers on both sides of the aisle. Red or blue, nobody wants to send a week trying to remember how to reset the clocks for their car, stove, and automatic coffeemaker.
Of course, there are a couple of issues piercing the pro-DST argument like a shaft of sunlight through my curtains at 5am in July (and it would be 4am, my friends, if not for DST!) First, there’s “Big Sleep.” I am not making this moniker up, I swear I heard it on NPR. I’m not sure you could call “Big Sleep” a lobby, since it mostly seems to be physicians and neurologists citing a whole mess o’ studies showing human bodies do, in fact, do better with earlier sunrises and earlier sunsets.
The other problem is the inconvenient fact that, when the US tried permanent DST back in 1974, in response to the OPEC oil crisis**, it… didn't go so well. As Brittany Shamus recounts in the Washington Post:
“On Day One, the New York Times reported, hundreds of tourists missed flights from Puerto Rico, which remained on standard time, to the continental United States. Throughout the week, newspapers carried reports of bleary-eyed commuters and nervous parents. “Daylight time is like darkness time,” declared a headline in The Washington Post. The New York Times called it “the Second Dark Age.”
“Pitch black at 7:30 in the morning,” a Long Island man named Bob Fitzpatrick told the Times. “People were saying if this had happened two years ago, McGovern would be President today.”
He spotted dawn only briefly on his way to work as a Lord & Taylor executive and was “depressed as hell,” he added.”
Most of us, if given a chance, would vote for long summer evenings and the chance to see daylight after, say, 4pm in the winter. But..that might not be the way to go. Where do you stand, Reds? Team DST? Pro-Standard? And just how annoying do you find the biannual time change?
*Not you, Arizona, Saskatchewan and Yukon.
** We had to start paying more than 30¢ for a gallon of gas.
JENN McKINLAY: AZ here - what time change? The only thing that drives me crazy about DST is trying to remember if my family on the east coast is two or three hours different from me and when it happens exactly because in AZ, we’re full up on sunshine no need to change anything here. If they do make DST permanent then AZ becomes PST permanently, which is weird when we’re clearly in the MST region but…whatever.
RHYS BOWEN: I’d welcome it! Driving between CA and AZ four times a year is confusing. Especially as we usually drive in October and March when the time changes. Do we lose an hour or don’t we? I remember breezing into Phoenix once, thinking I had plenty of time for my event at the Poisoned Pen only to find I was nearly late And a confession: I don’t change the time on my car. For six months I add an hour! It’s good for my math skills.
Lucy Burdette: I don’t really care which time we choose, but would love to choose one and stick with it. I really hate the changes! The one good thing about moving to daylight savings time is that the animals are more likely to sleep in. T-bone seems to think that 530 or 6 AM is perfectly acceptable for a cat to demand breakfast. I am hoping with the change to a darker morning, he might let us sleep!
Hank Phillippi Ryan. So you know how I feel about this. I am confused enough by time zones, and when the time changes I am utterly flummoxed. Because the time does not change. The time is exactly the same. We just call it something else. So I say it’s spinach and I say the heck with it. Please give me back my sleep.
HALLIE EPHRON: I am not a big fan of ‘spring ahead.’ Though I remember when we had an infant in the house, for a few weeks it was a pleasant change to have her waking up at 6AM instead of 5.
Darker mornings are ok with me…. but then I’m not waiting for a school bus. And I’m not sure how happy I’ll be with the sun rising as late as 8 AM in the wintertime. Didn’t we have it that way for a while and changed it back.
I like what Hank said: Spinach.
DEBORAH CROMBIE: I have stated my case on DST, but I'm perfectly happy to make my case (rant) about it any old time. I say, leave time alone! Yes, I know clocks are a construct, but standard time is 
apparently much closer to our natural circadian rhythms. According to the experts, DST is damaging to our bodies, and permanent DST could have long term negative consequences, apart from the short term negative impact of the switch causing more heart attacks and accidents. Of course I'm planting my flag on my own little hill–when it is 110 degrees, I can't wait for it to get dark…
JULIA: What do you think, dear readers? Daylight Savings? Standard? Or is it spinach?!?
I'm firmly in the "Stop Changing" camp . . . but the teacher in me shudders at the thought of Little Ones heading for bus stops or walking to school in the dark, so if I were the one to choose, I'd stay with Standard. [And all those health issues Debs mentioned would not become a significant concern.]
ReplyDeleteNow, if I could only fiigure out why the "setting the clock" instructions aren't helping me reset Miss Phoebe's clock . . . .
Where I went to school we didn’t have that problem as we didn’t start until 9:00am. —Reen Carter
DeleteThat's a good point Joan. I think I prefer Standard Time as well. But, I am reminded of our visits to Norway (when our daughter and her family lived there for almost 2 years). In the winter they only get 3-4 hours of sunlight and in the summer they get the reverse which is 3-4 hours of night. It was so weird going to a concert one evening and coming out around 11:00 pm and it was bright sunlight like it was midday.
DeleteAnon, that makes me think of visiting Anchorage, which calls itself the "City of Flowers." We were hosted for dinner by a friend-of-a-friend and I was amazed at her garden, since, it's so, you know, cold and dark there. She said the intense, long days of sun supercharge anything growing. (They later retired in the Pacific Northwest, so I don't think the great gardening made up for the winters in the end.)
DeleteAlso thinking of the year I spent in Kodiak, AK…sun up around 10 in the morning, set by 3 in the afternoon. Kids cheerfully playing in the dark Flipped in the summer with the sun perpetually setting and rising. It was all rather more peaceful. Elisabeth
DeleteI also hate the change, although, resetting the clocks is easy (except for the car!) ,and I don't really care. I think for those of us on the East Coast, the eastern edge of our time zone, it would make more sense to join Atlantic Time - that is, permanent DST. But it wouldn't be so nice for folks on the western edge, like Indiana.
ReplyDeletePlus, if we were on Atlantic Time, my older son and I would always be on the same clock with my younger son in Puerto Rico, which doesn't change the clocks.
Edith, I saw in the Portland Press Herald some Maine legislators are working on a bill to put Maine on Atlantic Time - which, when you look at the longitude lines, makes a lot of sense!
DeleteExcept on Navajo here in Arizona we don’t change the time. I rather like that as I don’t show up late or not at all on Sunday activities.
ReplyDelete—Reen Carter
Reen, I think not changing must be very nice for folks living in Arizona! The downside for the rest of us is when we have a Zoom meeting scheduled, we have to check, double check and triple check what the AZ time is compared to our own time zones!
DeleteWhen I lived on the reservation the federal offices went on day light saving , the state and the tribes stayed on standard time, and the churches and trading posts picked whichever suited. Totally confusing!
DeleteI like Standard Time as I have trouble sleeping. I don't "lose" sleep when we spring ahead... suddenly my sleep looks better! Instead of getting up at 4 AM this morning, it's 5!
ReplyDeleteMore seriously, in winter it's either dark in the morning or dark in the afternoon. Here in the mountains where we're often socked in with clouds for weeks at a time, it's often both. As someone doing barn chores at both times, it makes little difference to me. However, as a schoolteacher for many years, I too would prefer Standard Time. Those traveling in the dark afternoons are usually older.
Agrees, Anon, and for the same reason. No one in the north likes twilight at 4pm, but it's just too dangerous having little one waiting for busses in the dark. There are too many accidents when it's light out as is!
DeleteIf I were king, then spinach would be Standard Time;-)
ReplyDeleteThe only RIGHT answer, Judy! :-)
DeleteI'm with Hank and Judy and everyone else who says: Standard, please. 12 months a years. Full stop. Period. Spinach.
ReplyDeleteI think we have Jungle Red consensus!
DeleteWe must have a bunch of early risers here at JRW!
DeleteNot an early riser here , but I agree-leave the clocks alone!! As a former 12 hour shift worker, we would get the short night(yay only 11hours) or the long (boo 13 hours -on Sat night in the emergency department) We were told it would balance out over the years. It didn’t. I worked 13 long nights and ONE short one!😳 I was very glad when we were finally just paid for what we worked!
DeletePST is just fine!
Standard Time. I thought in the past when they tried DST through the year that kids got hurt and killed in the dark mornings. Why would we try it again?
ReplyDeleteI honestly think it's because people remember how much of a drag it is to walk out into darkness at 4-5pm, JC, and because the biggest changes to morning daylight don't occur until the late fall and winter months, they forget they won't be seeing dawn until 9am...
DeleteDaylight Savings Time all the way! I prefer the light at the end of the day, I never have any effects from the time change. Children don’t walk to school in most places, parents take their children to school. Many public school districts don’t have busing, so car pools created by parents is the predominate norm.
DeleteWhen I was a kid at Y camp in the Poconos, we rolled the clocks back for "camp time" (standard) to ensure darkness for the evening campfire. If you're off the grid, you can do whatever you want.
ReplyDeleteOh, that sounds magical, Margaret. And your camp organizers were very wise!
DeleteI'm with Debs. Standard time should be the standard.
ReplyDeleteIt definitely seems to be the New England concensus as well, Brenda. 9pm sunsets in July are lovely, but I'd rather have a 7am sunrise in December.
DeleteJust pick one.
ReplyDeleteAnd for all the people who say the kids can't wait for the bus in the dark...most of them don't stand alone on corners. Mom or Dad is there and usually the kids are sitting in the car. Trust me. I see it all over my neighborhood.
Because we lived on a dark road with limited sightlines and no sidewalks, my husband always sat out in the car with the girls to wait for their buses. They had quality time, too. The girls have great memories of getting Steve to listen to their favorite music, some of which he still really enjoys.
DeleteKaren, I did this with my nephews, too! There are songs still to this day they know all the lyrics :-)
DeleteLiz, there are several places along the roads in my area where a handy parent or grandparent has built a little bus stop for the kids at the end of a long driveway. They're so cute and practical!
DeleteMy kids didn't have to take a bus until high school and they were lucky. They were supposed to walk either to the church at the corner or the next corner. But the bus driver "made up" a stop right in front of our house because he had to drive that way anyway. LOL
DeleteSpinach! I'm in the just pick one camp.
ReplyDeleteI'm laughing, Kait!
DeleteSpinach. ALL CAPS. I hate the switch 2x a year. My body really lets me know that it prefers Standard time. I'm always miserable in the summer--my body is telling me that I need to go to sleep, but my brain says it's still daylight! You should be doing something! I love watching those dark winter evenings slowly begin to ease into spring. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteFlora, you should watch the link I added about sleep time in this blog - it has a great animated explanation of why our bodies react in just that way to longer daylight hours.
DeleteThanks, Julia, I will.
DeleteI just looked at the link, Julia, and now I am firmly a standard time proponent.
DeleteStandard is my preference but at this time I'll take anything. Just make the time changes stop.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, Anon. My kids don't seem to be bothered, and yet here we all are, moaning, "Just let it stop!" which makes me wonder if there's some sort of cumulative exhaustion that sets in after a few decades of this nonsense...
DeleteI prefer Daylight Savings Time. It is much easier and safer to commute with some daylight, especially in the winter. The time change has no effect on my physical being at all. I am a runner, and run early before working. I see no children walking to school alone. Either their parents walk with them or they are driven to school. Most school districts have eliminated busing. More after school activities are possible with light later in the day. I support permanent Daylight Savings Time.
DeleteAs a morning person, I'm in favor of staying on standard time all year! Experts say our bodies need the morning light. I know I do.
ReplyDeleteMe, too, Gillian. I tend to stay up late anyway, and longer daylight hours don't help with this.
DeleteAnd I have not forgotten Hank's hilarious story about when she, as a news anchor, said that time was a construct--which did not go over well with the bosses.
ReplyDeleteBut it's absolutely true!!
DeleteI continue to be fascinated by the fact that almost everyone agrees that we need to do something, but those in "charge" graviate to DST as the default. Why no push to standard time?
ReplyDeleteBecause Those In Charge never get out of bed before 9 a.m. They haven't a clue about the reality of getting up in the dark.
DeleteThe push for DST has always been from financial lobbies--the rationale being that if there are more daylight hours people will spend more money on shopping and activities. But I refuse to come out of my airconditioned cave until after the sun sets!
DeleteThat's a good point, Unknown. I suspect Debs may have the right of it - someone has figured out there's more money to be made with longer evening daylight than otherwise.
DeleteI spend half my life trying to figure out what time it is, mostly in the time zones where my kids live. Portland is three hours behind, and Michigan is the same as Ohio. But Kenya doesn't observe DSL, because what's the point? They're at the equator, so they have the same twelve hours of each daylight and dark all year. But that means part of the year they're eight hours ahead, and as of yesterday, seven hours ahead.
ReplyDeleteAnd right now I'm in Colorado, which is two hours behind Ohio, and my older Fitbit can't adapt to local time. So I'm challenging my arithmetic skills.
My personal preference would be to stay on Standard time.
So true. With tv, Internet, air flights, we are such an international world. It just doesn't make sense to have artificial time changes. That clock has struck - and I say "strike it down!!"
DeleteKaren, I had a theory that we should all have our individual time zones we carry around with us, since we now all have an electronically-synched clock in our back pocket or on our wrists. We could link up with out loved ones so your kids always know what Mom time it is!
DeleteJulia, I don't think my poor brain could manage that! It is already a challenge to remember when everyone is either awake or asleep.
DeleteThe only thing more insane than changing the time twice a year is the delusion that so-called Daylight Saving Time actually increases the number of daylight hours. I can't express (though I'll try) how lovely it is (not) to extend the joys of getting up in the dark on cold winter mornings. Even on days when I'm not out there clearing the snow. Imagine how much grimmer this would be in the depths of December and January.
ReplyDeleteI do think it's interesting the push for the DST seems to come from more southerly politicians. If you're in Florida on year-round DST, the latest sunrise winter you'd see would be around 8am, so it would be getting light at 7:30. That's a lot different than the 9am sunrise many of us in the north (and not so very far north!) would see.
DeleteAs far as I am concerned, pick one and then leave it alone!
ReplyDelete"Just make it stop" is a popular position, Judi!
DeleteI LOVE Daylight Saving Time and I would be very happy to make it permanent. For my entire life, I’ve looked forward to it. The extra daylight at the end of the day energizes me to get more done. Standard time is just so depressing, with all that darkness. I might as well crawl under a rock and stay there until the time changes again.
ReplyDeleteDebRo
DebRo, I see a winter rental in Florida or Arizona in your future. That's what I'd like to do to get away from the cold and dark!
DeleteWhen the sun is directly above in the sky, it is noon. I don't care what we make our clocks say. That's why it's called "high noon." Let's stick with standard for the health reasons and adjust what we need to as far as work and school schedules to make that work. Either way, stop the insanity of "changing" the time twice a year!
ReplyDeleteMaybe we could go back to the medieval hours, which changed with the season, Anon. I found it fascinating to learn the time between, say, terce and sext would grow or shrink throughout the year - because, of course, it's all solar based.
DeleteIt always makes me laugh to see the people who eagerly jump on a jet plane and endure time lag for a week after switching 5 or more time zones to travel and then those same people have trouble with a one hour change. Given that, however, I'm fine with changing twice a year -- or sticking with Standard. Full time DST would mean too dark mornings in winter, sun up close to 9 AM.
ReplyDeleteOh, I moan and groan about jet lag, too, Anon! The only difference is at least if your traveling, you're motivated to get out and about to see new and exciting things. At home, the only new and exciting thing it trying to figure out how to reset the coffee maker... :-)
DeleteIt makes no difference to me as long as we pick one or the other and stick to it However DST can be hard on school children, getting up and catching the bus before dawn. That caused huge issues in 1974. I remember having to drive mine to school so they wouldn’t be walking in the dark. I vote standard time. Arizona survives it
ReplyDeleteAs does Hawaii, Ann, although being on the equator, it would be silly for them to switch back and forth anyway.
DeleteDST is thought to be particularly hard on teenagers, who learn better when school starts an hour later, not an hour earlier.
ReplyDeleteWhich is a whole 'nother discussion, Debs! I'm very much team "start high school at 9am." I drove Youngest to school every day of her senior year, and every day she would fall asleep both coming and going! And I'm a mom who enforced bedtime.
DeleteSpinach here. Just stop it one way or another, I don’t care. That’s what light bulbs are for if it’s dark when I think it should be light. In fact in the winter I have my bedroom light on a timer set to go on when it is still dark thirty out. I am very in tune to my body and it does not like the time changes. Ha, and I don’t change any old fashioned tick rock clocks or grandfather’s clock in the winter because they’re a real pain to switch. So I just subtract an hour whenever I look at an old fashioned clock in my house in the winter.
ReplyDeleteOne unheralded advantage, Pamela: it gives everyone a chance to brush up their math skills!
DeleteGood morning, All. I’m with Just Stop the Switching group. Don’t care which time. Just hate changing the clocks. One of the benefits of no longer driving: no stupid car clock to change. BTW today is National Napping Day. Celebrate restfully. Elisabeth
ReplyDeleteElisabeth, I have a friend visiting, and she celebrated yesterday with a Sunday afternoon nap!
DeleteLiving on the eastern edge of a time zone, I love the extra hour in the summer evenings, but I don't want children waiting for buses in the dark...that didn't go well when tried before. I suspect if they change the current rules it won't last long. My question is why don't they make the change Friday/Saturday instead of Saturday/Sunday? That gives people an extra day before the work week to adjust.
ReplyDeleteThat's an excellent question, Missy, and one I hadn't thought of. Why NOT make Saturday the first day of the new time? Is it just because Sunday is traditionally the start of the week?
DeleteTHAT is a brilliant idea!
DeleteThe sun sets for me at 8 in the summer. Without DST, that would be 7. I need that extra hour to be able to enjoy any outdoor activities in the summer. In the winter? Who wants to be outside anyway? So if I have to choose, it would be permanent DST.
ReplyDeleteUsually, I don't mind the switch, but this year, it hit me hard. I was out late on Saturday, and I did not want to get up for church yesterday. But I did it, then I came home and napped. Didn't sleep super well last night, but I seem to be waking up already, which is a blessing. Hopefully, I'll be okay by tomorrow.
I hope you adjust soon, Mark. I was appalled when I woke up at almost 11am this morning! I didn't have any trouble getting up on time Sunday, and I suspect my body was saying, "Not so fast, lady" today. :-)
DeleteI don’t care which one we pick. Just make it stop! Here in British Columbia our legislature passed a law to stop the time change, but they don’t want to bring it into effect until most of North America is ready to go so we will be in synch. Sheesh. Probably not in my lifetime…
ReplyDeleteThat was evidently one of the problems when the US went to permanent DST in the 1970s. They forgot that Canada, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and the territories were not also changing time and this led to... Issues.
DeleteThis post has Cher's "If I Could Turn Back Time" song running through my head. And now I'm guessing you do, too. You're welcome. :-)
ReplyDeleteI love your sense of humor, Jenn! Or maybe I should say, I get (and have the same) sense of humor! — Pat S.
DeleteJenn, if we had the ability to fine comments, you'd be in trouble...
DeleteGAHHHHHH. Let's institute fines, truly.
DeleteI hate the time change because it seems to throw me off by more than an hour and it takes a minimum of a week to adjust.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I do prefer DST. I am not a morning person, I don’t have kids and my sister gets off work at the library at 6 pm and hates coming home in the dark in winter.
Jennifer, that coming home in the dark in winter is probably the number one reason people like the idea of permanent Daylight Savings Time. As far as I can tell, there is not a single human being who enjoys that experience.
DeleteI have to say that I look forward to DST for a strictly personal reason. When we go visit my daughter and her family, we have an extra hour of daylight to drive home in and don't have to worry about the deer running across the road on one particular road (the one we're on the longest). So, I get to spend more time with my granddaughter, and that's of paramount importance to me. I can attend events she participates in, go out for supper with the family, and still have daylight on the way home. Of course, it helps, too, that I am not a morning person. DST fits those of us who are night owls really well. I am not unsympathetic to those rising early for school or work with it being dark in the early morning. I used to be at school by 7:20 or 7:30, so that would be a bummer with it being dark. But, there's the getting dark by 4:00 p.m. in the winter, too, and I hate that. So, I'm in my happy place now of more time with my granddaughter.
ReplyDeleteKathy, I think everyone's reason for one or another time is personal, and more granddaughter time is definitely one of the better reasons to stick with DST!
ReplyDeleteWake up perky in the morning my foot! I don't care about the issue one way or the other. I do hate changing all the clocks--I haven't been able to find the one on my car radio since installation. Doesn't really matter because the time is too small to see while driving anyway. On the other hand my husband adores DST and looks forward to it yearly.
ReplyDeleteI think you nailed it, Pat - it's the clock changing that rankles.
DeleteBern is at about the same latitude as the bottom of Hudson's Bay. That means short days in the winter and long days in the summer no matter what we do with our clocks. I'm used to that. For some reason, I just don't have a dog in this fight. A one-hour time change twice a year doesn't affect my sleep patterns particularly (although six hours flying back and forth to the East Coast certainly does), and I don't mind changing the clocks twice a year, either. So I'm perfectly happy to keep things the way they are--but also glad to do whatever scientific studies show is best physiologically for the population. Is there an actual consensus on what is best?
ReplyDeleteKim, physicians and neuroscientists say that early daylight and early dark are better for human sleep patterns, and therefore they lean strongly into standard time, which preserves that pattern. I had no idea Switzerland was that far north longitudinally; it's crazy the difference between North American and European climates!
DeleteHurray for the Gulf Stream, which keeps Europe and the British Isles WARM--or, at least, a lot warmer than they'd be without it!
DeleteSO late to the blog today! ANd that is all I am going to say. xoxoo
ReplyDeleteWould rather discuss Rice Pudding. Hate DST.
ReplyDelete