Daylight Savings
Love it, hate it, or indifferent to it, can someone please explain to me why people don't prepare for it? Seriously. Everyone freaks out about losing an hour of sleep. So why not take it in increments? I've been setting my alarm clock back by increments of 10 minutes for the past few weeks, and I'm now within ten minutes of what will be the "new" 6:05 am after this weekend. This weekend, I will "lose" only ten minutes of sleep, rather than the full hour. This also results in me getting tired earlier, closer to the "new" 10:00, so that I'll be able to go to bed at the appropriate "new" time.
It's not difficult. Really. It's not. It's the only logical way of dealing with such an expected time-shift. I have no sympathy for the bleary-eyed majority who seem unable to grasp this concept. I do have sympathy for people with genuine sleep disorders who have enough trouble finding a sleep schedule that their body can accept without having to readjust it twice a year. Not planning ahead, however, does not constitute a sleep disorder, any more than wearing a blindfold would count as a vision disorder.
As for the earlier date of DST this year, this just may be the only year. Much as the bleary-eyed majority might hate it, there are actual energy savings to be had from playing with the clocks. However, putting it back this early will result in early morning increases in energy use that are likely to offset any evening savings (source). The main report is for California, but it's likely to be worse in the real world, where mornings will probably be colder. There are other issues to having it come this early as well.
At any rate, I will not be a member of the bleary-eyed majority come Monday.
3 comments:
The only problem I have with DST is that it's outdated and unnecessary. It just goes to show that even a genius like Ben Franklin was capable of having lame ideas.
I remember in 1972, when I was in the first grade, we had daylight savings time year-round. We'd go to school in the dark, which was downright spooky. (Well, I was just six.) I think it was supposed to save on heating somehow, because that was when we had to wait in line for gas for a couple of hours -- starting when I was five and my brother one. Nixon said it was supposed to be good for us.
According the actual research I found, it does actually save money, but on heating, not lighting. That is, the goal is to make people not be active during the coldest part of the day so that the heat won't be turned up as high. Which is why having it this early doesn't make any sense; mornings are still too cold.
The savings are only around 1%, but 1% for an entire nation is still an impressive chunk of change. *shrugs*
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