Carter Scott ‘26, Entertainment Editor
Every spring, on the second Sunday of March, people all across the country set their clocks forward an hour in an attempt to maximize the amount of daylight we get to experience. Despite almost every American participating in the reset, there seems to be a similar negative feeling associated with the annual setback.
The concept of daylight saving time was created in 1784 when Benjamin Franklin believed that waking up earlier during this period of time could allow for candles to be conserved and money to be saved. After over a century, Germany was the first to use daylight savings in 1916 as an attempt to conserve coal and energy by moving the clock forward an hour. The United States followed suit two years later and it was first put to use on March 31, 1918, as a way to conserve fuel and allow those in the workforce to continue working later into the day. In 1919, after the war ended, the implemented loss of sleep was unappreciated and removed by former-president Woodrow Wilson. On Feb. 9, 1942, it was reinstated once again to conserve energy as tensions grew around the world regarding another world war. After the war ended in 1945, it was once again repealed and the time zones were returned to normal.
In an attempt to fix the time-related chaos that the previously used daylight savings times caused for states that did not adopt it, the 1966 Uniform Time Act was created. This allowed for set start and stop dates to be implemented to the multiple time zones that span the U.S. with the exception of Hawaii and Arizona which wanted to keep their time unchanged. With this new implementation, the time zones were mostly fixed and to this day, we still use this method of setting the clock back.
In the 21st Century, daylight savings time has become extremely controversial due to its negative effects on the human body. In an article by the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, “Moving the clocks forward in the spring results in going to sleep and waking up before our internal clocks are ready for us to.” The board added, “The consequences of insufficient sleep include decreases in cardiovascular health, increases in diabetes and obesity, poorer mental health, lower cognitive performance, and an increase in the risk of motor vehicle accidents.” Despite our continuation of the annual setback, the detrimental health risks should be a sign that it should no longer remain.
Senior Lexi Tilton said, “I do not like [day lights savings time]. It always interferes with my dance competitions, and it stresses me out knowing I will not have the sleep needed to perform at my best.” Additionally, senior Jessica Lee added, “I think it is dangerous. Older adults are more likely to receive cardiovascular problems such as heart attacks due to the clock being set back an hour and the stress that comes with it.”
As you set your clocks back, remember to go to bed early to make up for the hour that you are losing. Sleep is an incredibly important part of our daily cycle, and losing even just an hour of sleep can lead to negative effects throughout your day.
Lyon Life 