Even I, a definite morning person, thoroughly dislike Daylight Savings Time (DST).😒And I don’t know anyone who enjoys is. Why do it–to only change it back in a few months? I did a little digging to find out when this started, and who had this bright idea, and found some interesting information.

Some say that it began with Benjamin Frankin and his proverb in Poor Richard’s Almanac, “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” Pragmatically, he thought that shifting daylight an hour would save candles. It never took hold. Fast forward to 1895. George Hudson, a New Zealand entomologist wrote a paper for the Wellington Philosophical Society suggesting a two-hour shift would be very helpful for scientific study. He wrote a similar paper on 1898, but that, too, never took hold. Ten years later, William Willett, a businessman/builder in the UK, and more importantly to him, an avid golfer, suggested that an additional hour of daylight would allow golfers to play after work. He actually convinces Robert Pearce, a member of the Liberal Party in Parliament, to try to pass a bill allowing the change, but it failed.

What really caused the shift was World War I. In an effort to save coal, Germany and Austria-Hungary, the Central Powers, turned the clocks ahead one hour on April 30, 1916. Great Britain followed in May, as did France. Russia made their change in 1917, and in 1918, after joining the Allies, the US changed as well. Most nations changed back after the war. In the US, Congress tried to pass a bill to repeal it, but President Woodrow Wilson vetoed it. Congress passed it again, Wilson vetoed it again, but Congress overrode it the second time. It stayed that way until World War II. Again, European nations changed to DST in 1939, while the US changed in early 1942 and it stayed that way until 1945. Since then, we’re changed to DST at different time through the years.

Yes, as kids it’s nice to be able to play outside longer when school’s out–but who wanted to go to bed at regular time during school? And Mr. Willett is probably smiling down from heaven when people can play golf after work. But particularly since the 1970s there has been growing evidence that DST is not a good idea. Some serious research started during the energy crisis. The theory was that more sun in the evening would save electricity. At best it’s a wash and there’s some indication that it may actually be wasteful. Face it, the earth moves on its axis and there’s going to be just so much daylight and so much darkness every day, year in and year out. Does it matter If you turn on the lights so you can get ready for work, or turn it on earlier in the evening? You still need to turn on the lights (or Franklin’s candles) sometime during those 24 hours.

Chronobiologists have done significant work and have come to the conclusion that even small shifts in time can have inadvertent effects on the human body and brain. An eight-year study at the prestigious Mayo Clinic has found that the time shift has caused problems for medical personal’s sleep deprivation (they work long hours to begin with and that doesn’t help) Journals such as Open Heart and the Journal of Clinical Medicine have found a noticeable increase in Acute Myocardial Infarctions–aka heart attacks😱. There are also studies from the American Economic Journal Applied Economics showing an increase of at least 30 traffic deaths in the days immediately after “springing forward.” (interesting, no similar problems happen when “falling back”) as well as general accidents that cost roughly $275 million dollars. And if that’s not enough, apparently the shift in clocks cause a one-day loss of $31 billion in the US stock market.

Both Hawaii and Arizona don’t follow Daylight Savings Time, and momentum has been growing to end it once and for all. Fifteen additional states have passed their own laws ending it–Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Washington State, Wyoming and Utah. However, that needs the OK from the Department of Transportation, which in turn requires an act of Congress. And recently Senator Marco Rubio developed a BIPARTISAN bill to do just that. The “Sunrise Protection Act” includes Democratic Senators Whitehouse, Wyden and Markey, and Republican Senators Rubio, Blunt, Rick Scott and Hyde-Smith. I’m keeping all fingers crossed that they pass it. 🤞🤞🤞