Saving for a Rainy Day?

If you happen to live in an area that does not observe DST, you may have wondered why people in other areas change their clocks. A quick perusal of Wikipedia will show you that there is no good reason.

Have you also wondered when people in those crazy places change their clocks? The mnemonic is, "Spring forward, fall back." However, this year, they did not adjust their clocks when spring began in early February. They waited until the end of March, after the equinox, the middle of spring. So remember, clocks are changed... sometime during spring and fall.

No matter when people futz with their clocks, the procedure is absurd. It is true that there is more sunlight in the summer than in winter, but no one gets to save it for a rainy day.

There are, it seems, only three "benefits" to Daylight Savings Time:

• stores make more money if the sky is light after people finish work each day 
• people watch less prime time television during Daylight Savings Time 
• there's an "extra" hour in the fall

Here are just a few of the problems caused by changing the clocks:

Health

• changing the clocks disrupts circadian rhythms; the effects on a number of biological systems can be severe and last for weeks 
• it disrupts sleep and reduces the quality of sleep 
• it increases the incidence of heart attacks by 10% (studies in several countries support this) 
• for several weeks after changing the clocks in the spring, the number of male suicides increases (however, male suicides are at their lowest rate in the summer, which, some argue, is a benefit of changing the clocks)

Environment

• in the summer, energy use increases in the morning, but there is no corresponding decrease in the evening; no power is saved during DST

Work

• DST causes problems for farmers and other people whose work depends on the sun (e.g., grain can only be harvested after dew evaporates, so the work day "officially" starts before work can be done and ends when work could continue) 
• cows need to be milked at the same time every day; their systems are disrupted when dairy farmers need to make milk deliveries earlier than usual

Safety

• major industrial accidents have occurred because of DST (molten steel should be cooled for all the time it needs, not one hour less) 
• when the clocks are changed, medical devices can "generate adverse events" (I don't want to know what that means)

Economy

• changing the clocks makes a mess of meetings, travel, billing systems, and record keeping, resulting in much unnecessary expense 
• different regions have different DST rules; this adds more complications to an already confused system 
• work efficiency decreases, leading to financial losses 
• U.S. stock markets experience a significant one-day loss each time the clocks change

Ruining Our Fun 

• Fourth of July fireworks occur long after the kids' usual bedtimes 
• because some people announce the times of teleconferences as PT, MT, and ET rather than the accurate PST or PDT, MST or MDT, and EST or EDT, other people may miss a teleconference. People who don't change their clocks have no reason to be aware that Daylight Savings Time has started or ended. For them, it's always Standard Time.

In conclusion, changing the clocks has no benefits. More importantly annoys those of us in numerous saner regions where we do not change our clocks—

so just stop it!