Springing Forward

Many of us woke up yesterday morning (Sunday) at our usual leisurely weekend time only to find out that the actual time was not what our clocks indicated but an hour later because of the start of Daylight Saving Time. I didn’t realize the change in time until I read the newspaper and saw where readers were told not to forget to set their clocks ahead. I was not thrilled to see that: like most of the population, I get annoyed at this change of hour twice a year. The "springing forward" robs us of an hour of sweet sleep and disrupts the body’s natural clock, although it affects some people more than others.

My understanding regarding the daylight saving practice was that it arose from the need to accommodate farmers; however, after some quick research into the topic, I found out that it is more complicated than that. Apparently, the first to come up with this idea of shifting time was Benjamin Franklin while living in Paris from 1776 to 1778. Back then, time was set according to the sun, and Franklin was frustrated with waking up at 4 a.m. to find bright sunlight entering his room, only to have to waste his Parisian mornings waiting for the city to get up and get in motion. Being a man of action, he proposed that the French government fire cannons at sunrise to wake people up and reduce candle consumption at night—to no avail, of course. More than a century later, in 1895, the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson came up with the modern concept of daylight saving time. He proposed a two-hour time shift so he would have more after-work hours of sunshine to go bug hunting in the summer. With the industrial revolution, these and other ideas of shifting time to enjoy more daylight according to the rotation of the sun entered government policy as a means of reaping economic benefits.

At the time that governments were considering whether to implement daylight saving time, there was also the issue of time zones being discussed. The lack of them created problems for railway companies trying to deliver passengers and freight on time, as nobody could agree on what time it was. In the 1840s, British railroads adopted a single standard time zone for the country, and in 1883, U.S. and Canadian railroads adopted four (Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific) to streamline service.

The First World War (1914-18) forced Europeans nations to cut energy costs, and Germany was the first European country to move clocks forward an hour in the summer, followed by France and others. They found the system helpful in conserving coal and increasing wartime production. In the United States, the Summer Time bill came into effect on March 19, 1918--not without opposition from different sectors in society, including farmers. They contended that their work was regulated by the sun, not by the government. Not all of the continental United States observed Daylight Saving Time, but that changed in 1966, when the Uniform Time Act was passed. Hawaii and Arizona are the only two states that do not observe Daylight Saving Time.

At present, there is a debate on the pros and cons of requiring Daylight Saving Time to be universal. "Spring forward" lasts seven months while "fall back” only four, so is daylight saving worth it when it comes to disrupting our life patterns? The business sector clearly favors Daylight Saving Time: “When it’s lighter, [people] are more likely to go out and do something, whether it’s in the neighborhood, a local park, or some other experience. And that behavior shift also drives sales, whether at a favorite restaurant or the local convenience store,” says Jeff Lenard, a spokesman for the National Association of Convenience Stores. There is also the issue of saving energy costs, but many studies question whether Daylight Saving Time produces any gains at all—and some suggest it may have the opposite effect. And, research from the medical field presents evidence that Daylight Saving Time disrupts our body’s clocks and rhythms, suggesting it might be harmful to our health.

Currently, there are several congressmen sponsoring a bill calling for year‐round Daylight Saving Time, arguing that it would reduce street crime, automobile accidents, and fuel consumption. They support the medical-field studies that say the current system creates a health risk. But changes of this nature in the political arena take long time to happen, and whether we will see such a bill pass soon is doubtful, unless citizens voice their opinions to their state representatives in a more active way than just being annoyed every March and November. However, humans adjust quickly to changes, for good or for bad; and a week or so from now, we will go about our daily routines and forget that Daylight Saving Time has once again reset our schedules. And perhaps for our sakes, it is better after all that we adapt to the things we have so little control of.