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“The United States has tried permanent daylight saving time twice before and ended it early. The UK tried it before and did not succeed. Russia tried it once, so did India and ended it early,” Klerman said. “I think we should learn from history.”
Daylight Saving Time is less than two decades old. Prior to 2007, DST began in April and ended in October. But in 2005, President George W. Bush – in hopes of addressing the country’s long-term energy issues – made Daylight Saving Time start three weeks earlier and end a week later.
But support among businesses ran much deeper than that, according to time-change expert Michael Downing, a professor at Tufts University who wrote Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time.
In the late 1700s, Benjamin Franklin was a prominent supporter of daylight saving time. He decided that if the people of Paris woke up early in the morning and went to bed early night, the city would save millions of pounds of candlewax every year.
They know that workers are more likely to shop when they leave their jobs.
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The states that are in favor of the change range from Florida to Washington. Some states have said they would link a potential switch to the decisions of their neighbors in order to minimize disruptions in the Midwest and New England.
The states can not act without an act of Congress, so Sen. Marco Portman, R-Ohio, has introduced legislation to do that numerous times. His Sunshine Protection Act passed through the Senate, but is still awaiting House approval.
Standard time, which we enter when we move our clocks back in the fall, is very close to the sun’s day and night cycle. For hundreds of years this cycle has set our body clock.
Congress moved the start date to the spring in 2005 and pushed it one week later in the fall. The time frame took effect in 2007.
Critics say there’s a flaw in the idea that America will save energy if people don’t use their lights as much: We now have many more ways to consume energy, including running air conditioners and TV sets at home. We also consume more gas while we drive around to enjoy that bonus hour, according to Downing.
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The clock will be turned back in a matter of weeks, and the Democratic-led House has yet to take up the measure. It seems likely that it won’t do it in the closing days of the session.
(Sidebar: The US is not alone in observing Daylight Saving Time. A majority of the world’s countries do too. Daylight Saving time is different in Britain, France, and Germany, where it starts on the last Sunday in March and ends in October.
The idea is up for debate. But in a 1784 letter to the editor of the Journal of Paris, Benjamin Franklin suggested that Parisians could save money by getting up earlier during the summer because they would then have to light fewer candles in the evening.
The Harvard Medical School professor of sleep medicine said she knows it is a bad idea.
Klerman said that the clock on the wall isn’t in keeping with the light on the body clock. There is no evidence that your body completely changes to the new time.
Daylight Saving Time is not something that Dr. Zee, director of the Center for Circadian and Sleep Medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine supports.
It’s the internal timer that controls when you can eat, exercise, and work, as well as your blood pressure, heart rate, and cortisol rhythm.
The proposal has been endorsed by more than 20 medical, scientific, and civic organizations, including the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, the National Parent Teacher Association, the National Safety Council, the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms and the World Sleep Society.
A 2003 study found that if a person goes without sleep for two nights, it will have the same effect on thinking and motor skills. The reduction in sleep time from 7 to 8 hours is said to increase the incidence of chronic disease.
The authors said that the difference between the social clock and body clock would negatively affect our health if there was more daylight during the winter.
The US Senate passed the legislation unanimously. Proponents say that extra daylight in the evening cuts down on car accidents and crime, and increases opportunities for commerce and recreation, as people prefer to shop and exercise during daylight hours.
However, research has shown both heart attacks and fatal car accidents increase after the clock falls forward in the spring. Children end up going to school in the dark with disastrous consequences.
Daylight Saving Time became permanent in 1974 after President Richard Nixon signed it into law. At the end of the month, Florida’s governor called for the repeal of the law after eight children were killed by cars in the dark. Schools delayed start times until the sun came up.