Why do we "spring ahead" and "fall behind" every year? Why do we change the clocks... mess with our sleep schedules... and lose daylight in the morning or night? Let's be honest. For most of us, it just seems like a pain. So, I decided to dig a little deeper into the history.According to NPR, Daylight Saving Time was first used in Germany during World War I. It was adopted in the hopes to save the country energy during war time. If the sun was out later, they thought they would use less coal.
To clarify, Saving Time refers to the time when we "spring ahead." Standard Time is where we are now - in the fall and winter, when sun sets at 4:30pm. As depressing as it might seem, that's the norm. Right off the bat, that makes me thankful for the invention of Daylight Saving Time. I love having the sun out until 9:30pm in the summer, and 5:30pm in the fall. Can we just make that the norm 365 days a year?!
Well believe it or not, that was a thing for a while in the US. National Geographic says America caught on after Germany started DST and used it year round during World War II. Personally, I wish we'd never gone back! But that's beside the point.The point is, the idea of saving energy by changing the clocks is dated and hard to prove. It's not law to obey DST. Hawaii, Arizona and Puerto Rico don't bother changing their clocks, and a lot of other countries opt out. NPR says that most of Africa and Asia just stay on their normal schedules year-round. Countries in the southern hemisphere use DST during our winter (when it's their summer). Meanwhile, equatorial nations, which have close to 12 hours of sunlight every day of the year, change their clocks just to keep up with the US and Europe.
Here at home, we make ourselves sick over the time change. Literally. Another Nat Geo article says that heart attack rates increase within days of turning the clocks ahead an hour in the spring. Messing with somebody's sleep is no joke, and doing it on a grand scale has noticeable consequences. That said, there are fewer heart attacks when we gain an hour of sleep in the fall.
There is a long list of pros. For instance, crime rates typically decrease when the sun is out later. National Geographic says a 2012 study showed robberies decreased 40% with an extra hour of sunlight at night. Once the clocks spring ahead, people also spend more time outside. Golf courses see an increase and business, and TV networks see a decrease in ratings.There have been a lot of debates about nixing DST over the years, but without any consensus, the pattern will likely stay the same. What do you think? Are you a fan?
