Welcome to Daylight Savings Time 2015

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Spring forward; fall back. Every year I have to make the daily trek from room to room changing clocks.

I didn’t become a real fan of daylight savings until I retired a few years back. Getting up going to work was hard enough but to take an extra hour of sleep away?

It took about a month for my body to adjust to the change and be fully conscious at work.

Now of course I really don’t care much what time it is because I rarely have to be anywhere early in the morning. So I can slowly adjust my bedtime and wake time to make the change much easier.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.)

People in Alaska and parts of Canada suffer from this disorder. It’s caused by not getting enough light. In far northern climates it’s dark six months of the year and light six months of the year.

This can have a very depilating effect on some people.

While a change to daylight savings time has little effect for these folks it does have an effect on those of us in more southern climes.

Our Dreary Season

Driving to work in the dark and coming home in the dark is a reality in most parts of Montana during November to late January. Add freezing cold, slippery snow covered roads, and you have a white-knuckle commuter who doesn’t arrive home in the best of moods.

The earlier we can get a little light during those daily trips the better off we’ll be and the more effective we are as an employee and significant other.

Not to mention that we smile a little more too.

Daylight Saving Benefits

There are other benefits to daylight savings time that fall outside the heath benefits. Here are just a couple.

• Most Americans favor daylight savings time for the extra light in the evening to do more family things outdoors as the weather improves.
• Daylight savings time saves money on electricity. On average we will use a little less than one percent of electricity for each day of daylight savings. However extra driving after work might offset any electrical savings.
• Better visibility significantly reduces (by four times) pedestrian deaths on streets and roads. This too can vary from place to place.

While the jury might be out on the accuracy of these benefits from one locale to another, most people still benefit in non-monetary ways.

Some Final Thoughts

Before the Uniform Time Act of 1966 set the beginning and ending of daylight savings, the individual states set whether or not they would observe daylight savings. Sound like a good idea?

Imagine a 35-mile trip from Moundsville, West Virginia to Steubenville, Ohio during that time. How many time changes from standard to daylight time would you experience? — Seven.

Hope you weren’t late for work today?

Do you favor daylight savings or should we just keep the same time year round? Comments below.

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