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The Reasons Daylight Savings Time Should be Year-Round

~ Carolyn ~ Leave a comment

Daylight Savings Time (DST) is something I have always had a love/hate relationship with.  I enjoy the extra hour of sleep in the fall and curse the lost hour of sleep in March.  According to multiple CBC.ca articles regarding DST and the comments posted beneath them – many people are in the same boat.

But is it something that should be removed completely?  Will anyone ever be satisfied?  The answer to both questions is no, and here are my reasons for why DST should be year-round rather than remain the same or be abolished.

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(1) Darker mornings means lighter evenings

  • You get 1 hour of extra light in evenings, although in the morning sun would not rise till an hour later

  • I tend to get more done in evening than early morning – many people would probably agree with this

(2) Time changes alter sleeping patterns

  • Sleep is a very important factor in peoples lives – disrupting this pattern can create terrible effects twice a year (see health concerns)
  • Many people have a hard time with sleep in the first place and time changes can be more confusing

  • I always have a hard time with adjusting to the new time frame and find that going to bed one hour earlier takes me at least 1 week to get used to.

(3) Health concerns will not be as prominent

  • Studies have shown that people are at higher risk of heart attacks due to DST
  • No solid evidence that depression and suicide rates increase during DST

  • This ties in with sleeping patterns – if people are more tired they are less likely to be alert and more likely to do poorly in any tasks given.

(4) Energy saving isn’t really a thing

  • Initially it was thought that DST saved energy (people using less lights during the day) – but studies have shown there is not a lot of evidence to prove this is true
  • Sometimes more heat / more air conditioning used

  • Unnecessary light usage will always be a concern.

(5) No change in amount of daylight during the day

  • 12 hours is 12 hours is 12 hours of daylight. Many people confuse this by thinking we lose an hour of daylight which is not true

  • We still receive the same amount of daylight – just at different times of the day.

Want to read more? Check out this post on vox.com!

What do you think? Should DST be year-round?

 

Carolyn

@CarolynPogo