The old saying ‘spring forward, fall back’ refers to the practice of daylight savings, where America rewinds her clocks on the second Sunday of March and the first Sunday of November. The phrase definitely serves as a reminder to adjust the time on cars, ovens and microwaves, but for many, it represents an unfortunate hassle: The daylight saving switch is an inconvenient relic of the past.
It is universally true that sleep is crucial to our everyday lives, affecting everything from our mood, mental health to physical wellbeing. But personally, I’m sick of my sleep schedule being tampered with every year.
If the government is going to mandate a biannual flip-flop in clock policy, there ought to be an adequate reason for doing so.
We are often told daylight saving time was created to help farmers and that it was supported by our founding fathers such as Benjamin Franklin. It is true that Franklin wrote a letter seemingly supporting earlier rising in the morning to conserve resources such as lamp oil.
In the same letter, however, he suggested the government fire cannons at dawn to force everyone to rise from their slumber and even argued that everyone should get up at 4 am. Policy proposal? More like political satire.
The truth is, daylight saving time came from a time of necessity in the wake of World War I. Many nations during the Great War sought to conserve energy and maintain high production. By moving the clocks forward an hour, the government extended the workday and conserved energy for basic essentials like electricity.
During a time of emergency, this rationale makes sense. But does it make sense now?
Currently, the U.S. is not at war and does not have a wartime economy, which raises the question: Why are we constantly changing the time?
Centuries have passed since Franklin’s antics, but in the meantime, the science of sleep has jumped leaps and bounds.
One hour of daylight might seem negligible to some, but scientists have since discovered that light exposure makes more of a biochemical difference than you might think.
The human body is meant to rise with dawn and fall with dusk; light exposure at the wrong times disrupts the circadian cycle, creating a host of negative health effects.
Many sleep and medical groups such as the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and National Sleep Foundation argue that adopting permanent standard time would be better for our health. In fact, researchers estimate that adopting standard time yearlong would result in 2.6 million less people with obesity and 300,000 fewer cases of strokes.
Permanently adopting daylight saving time, on the other hand, would result in 1.7 million fewer people with obesity, 220,000 fewer cases of strokes, potentially reduce energy use and extend daylight further into the evening.
As opposed to permanent standard time, which aligns more closely with the natural circadian cycle, daylight saving time creates a permanent mismatch between solar clocks and our internal timers.
Whichever camp you consider yourself a part of, there is an obvious truth: Perpetually switching times is not worth the hassle.
In reality, not making a choice is a choice in itself, and it is almost always the worst decision. Every year, this decision to walk this thin line leads to increased vehicular fatalities when the clock springs forward, heightens anxiety, depression and even increases hospital admissions.
As the old adage goes — never put off something until tomorrow if you can do it today, and if we know change is needed, why not let this be the year for that change?
Taylor Young is a second-year law student from Gulfport, Miss.
