My Chicago reference aside, I am awake. I suppose I did not take advantage of that EXTRA hour of “time” we supposedly conjured up. Daylight savings time, practiced by some 70 countries around the world and in the U.S., sans Arizona and Hawaii—and no… I do not know why—has been around in some form since World War I. Actually, I read that Benjamin Franklin, in 1784 thought it was a good idea to get up with the sun in order to make use of sunlight rather than having to use expensive candles. WELL, I have one thing to say to that, Ben… It’s called my always available 20% off coupon for Bed Bath and Beyond, and Yankee Candles. Problem solved, and now stop messing with my BRAIN.
DST, first widely used during WWI to save coal was repealed during peacetime, then reinstated during WWII. It was 2007 when a law signed by President Bush in 2005, extended DST by 4 weeks. Again, not positive of the actual ENERGY savings reasoning, but I am pretty sure it had something to do with an extra hour of daylight for trick-or-treaters. Again, my research here is a bit thin.
As I know, many of you are dealing with confused pets or children or both this very morning, I will mention a more dire scenario. According to the American Journal of Cardiology, there is a—albeit modest— increase in Myocardial Infarctions with the switch to and from Daylight Savings Time–which may reasonably be called Daylight Death Time. The study actually included 935 people, (59% men, 41% women). Don’t get too hung up on the fact that there WAS a study, I’ve already done that for you. The greatest shift came on that first Sunday after the spring shift in “time”. My conclusion, was that people DON’T like having their sleep patterns MESSED with. But, it turns out that isn’t scientific. There were shifts in cardiac events in both time changes and the conclusion of this study showed that “DST might transiently affect the incidence and type of acute cardiac events”. Money well spent, guys. So, what have we learned? Pets, people, and anyone with the mere possibility of a heart condition are affected by this seemingly irrelevant and inconclusively purposed—at least in modern times—change of the clocks. In fact, there is a very real research that shows with the spring change of the clocks, and people being awake more with the sun, more energy is being used with Air Conditioning. And the similar use of heating costs increases with our fall change of the clock.
So, does this make sense to ANYONE? I already have enough trouble with sleep patterns based off such things as…. Health, and LIFE, and WORK. Do I really need to change the clock twice a year and wreak havoc with my brain… and the tiny brain of my HUNGRY kitty????
I suppose it is a minor gift in that we didn’t use Ben Franklin’s original idea he had for Paris, which did not include changing of clocks at all. In order to take advantage of using sunshine instead of candles he suggested the levying of a tax on window shutters, ringing church bells at sunrise, and if that didn’t work, firing cannons down the street to get Parisians out of bed earlier. I think, perhaps Mr. Franklin just didn’t care for the French, because that is pretty extreme. 😉
So, I have officially wasted my extra hour today pondering my extra hour. Maybe that was the master plan.
Xoxo DDJ
Dealing With Fools 