After a good sleep, my weekend morning routine generally involves a hearty breakfast and reading the Gazette. But after today this will change. Tomorrow I will be grumpy, tired and irritable because it’s that most accursed time of year — daylight savings. Springing forward, as fun as it sounds, often leaves many of us lagging behind. Why then do we still bother with this archaic chronological phenomenon? Can’t we simply leave tour clocks alone?
As we approach spring, which is still very much a rumour at this point considering the harsh winter we have endured, the mornings have become visibly lighter and the daylight a little longer. On weekdays, my commute to work is no longer a wintry journey in darkness; rather it is becoming a lighted journey, sometimes even enlightening. I enjoy the amount of daylight that spills upon my day. I do not need to save any of it. In fact, the truth is we are not really saving anything. What we are doing is adding unnecessary headaches and undue stress. Let’s examine a few good reasons to abolish daylight savings time (DST).
First, let’s look at sleep disturbance. For people who have problems getting a solid night’s sleep, adjusting the clock can have a serious impact. The loss of one hour of rest can impede judgment and reaction time. Less sleep equates to grave safety concerns for all on our roads. This leads to what many consider the worst effect of DST — the increase in the severity of motor vehicle accidents around the time of the adjustment.
There is also evidence that suggests that there is a significant loss in productivity in the workplace due to the time warp brought on by DST. It can take the average person three or more days to get on track with their natural biorhythm as a result of the change. Changing our clocks twice a year is a tiresome if not weary chore, especially if you own a lot of clocks.
While many proponents of DST say we save money as a result of having fewer lights on, there is evidence that this is not really the case. In warmer climates, the reverse is true. More light equals more daytime heating, which equals more use of air conditioning, which equals more dollars spent on energy. In Alberta we spend more on gas and heat and moving Mickey’s small hand an hour forward isn’t going to save me much money.
On summer solstice St. Albert sees the sun rise at approx 5:03 a.m. and watches it set at approximately 10:22 p.m. That’s great for golfers, but bad for sleeping in. If we left the clocks be – like our cousins in Saskatchewan — our timings would be 6:03 a.m. to 9:22 p.m. Great for everyone, especially if you have young children and want them to go to sleep.
DST doesn’t help farmers as the animals don’t change their clocks. So who are we kidding? Join me and let’s make DST a faint memory of the dark ages.
The only good that really comes from DST, in my humble opinion, is the reminder to change the batteries in your smoke detectors. This promotes a type of savings we can truly appreciate!
Tim Cusack will eventually lighten up on DST once he catches up on that missing hour of sleep.
