Today I wish to ride a favorite hobbyhorse of mine; the absurdity and unhealthiness of Daylight Savings Time. The very name is a lie; no daylight is saved, it's just moved around. The idea of winter versus summer hours makes some sense; but this should be done by private initiative; DST is officious top-down interference with the clock, and with people's sleep cycles.
Due to DST, twice a year the entire country suffers from one hour's worth of jet-lag. The lost productivity, and the spikes in illness and accident, would certainly not be zero, and possibly more than any putative savings on evening lighting. Has anyone done the statistics?
The autumn fall-back is my favorite shift; I get to wake up to sunlight rather than night; but even that gives me a day of jet-lag. The vernal spring-forward is even worse.
And as if that weren't enough, Congress keeps extending DST to absurdly late in the year. Why not complete the nonsense and make it all year round?
Or better yet, abolish Daylight Savings Time entirely.
I would have blogged this days ago, but I had to de-lag first.
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