Johnny-on-the-Spot … by John Foster …
As our legislators wrangle over Daylight Savings Time, we Americans have to “fall back” in the autumn of the year.
Some want to make DST permanent.
Me?
I vote for going back to standard time and then move the state I currently reside in to CST.
The odds of that happening are close to my odds of winning the Mega Millions or Powerball lottery.
I figure I’ve “fallen back” more than 3 full 24 hour days in my life while “springing forward” a similar number.
In America, we all practice Daylight Savings Time with the exception of Hawaii and Arizona (except for the Navajo nation).
The U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are also “daylight savers”.
About half of ALL nations once observed DST but no longer do.
Wanna muddy the water some more?
The U.S. has 9 time zones with 6 of those in our 50 states.
We are one of the few countries with time zones but France actually has 12-13 time zones depending on the time of the year.
Vive la difference!
The U.S. first adopted DST with the Standard Time Act in 1918, a wartime energy measure which was repealed shortly after WWI ended.
From 1942 through 1945, President FDR introduced us to “War Time” or year-round daylight savings time to help the war effort.
In 1966, Congress came up with the Uniform Time Act to clear up a “hodgepodge of local start and end dates” for DST.
That action standardized the process across the nation.
But we weren’t done yet.
In 2007, the U.S. extended the duration of DST via the Energy Policy Act of 2005, setting DST to start on the 2nd Sunday of March and end on the second Sunday of November.
“Falling back” doesn’t seem to be as stressful as “springing forward” and losing that hour of sleep.
In the spring, we experience “acute mini jet lag”, up to a 24% increase in heart attacks, strokes, atrial fribulation and hospitalizations.
Fatal traffic crashes increase by 6%.
The “circadian misalignment” caused by the time change leads to chronic fatigue, sleep fragmentation, mood disturbances and a rise in depression.
It also reduces workplace productivity while adding administrative and system maintenance costs.
Those who back DST say we like having time in the summer for outdoor activities and point to a 7% drop in robberies in the DST evenings.
We evidently force the criminal element to sleep later.
My biggest beef with “falling back” or “springing forward” has to do with resetting clocks.
At least our vehicle timepieces now switch on their own along with our cell phones but we have a mini-cuckoo clock that is a real challenge.
Plus, there’s always one clock somewhere that I overlook.
Our microwave over-complicates the matter with an “AM/PM” option.
BTW, if you have a sundial, it has to fall back as well by physically moving it.
Can’t do that before going to bed the night before!
But considering I’ve fouled up my life, either “falling back” or “springing forward” a total of more than six days, I wonder what might have changed if we didn’t screw with our clocks.
I’ve lost 1,826 hours but also gained that same number.
It might be nice to have those 1,826 hours I gained based on the nation’s average hourly wage of $24.51.
So where’s that nearly $45.000 at?
Probably the same place it would be if I had to cover that bill for those 23 hour work days.
Since I’m a “early morning guy”, daylight savings means I have to hit the sack in the summer months when it’s still pretty bright outside.
It’s not the problem it used to be with noisy kids playing outdoors because few noisy kids play outdoors anymore.
It’s dark for more of my early morning work chores but I do get to see a lot of pretty sunrises.
Personally, I don’t think we’ll see DST go away because so many “pro DST-ers” have their hands in the pockets of legislators.
In case you didn’t know, that’s how things do or do not happen in the U.S.
I just hope that when I “fall back”, there’s someone there to catch me.
Now it’s a matter of faith in my fellow man.
Could be risky!
