Like so many things that are a part of the American routine, few people ever take the time to look at why we observe Daylight Saving Time. In the fall we celebrate an extra hour of sleep and every spring we complain about having to get up an hour earlier. Despite the massive inconvenience we experience, few can articulate the 'why' behind the concept of Daylight Saving Time.
Back in the good ol' days, time was regulated by the rising and setting of the sun. We were a largely agrarian society and when the sun went down we knew it was time to sleep. When the sun came up, rise and shine y'all. Beginning around the time of the industrial revolution, the sun no longer regulated the workforce and the need for government intervention presented itself. Or so we were told.
Originally, the concept of DST is attributed to a British born New Zealander named George Vernon Hudson. George had a shift work job in a post office which afforded him little time to do his bug collecting in the dusk hours of summer. Rather than ask to get off a little early, George decided that attempting to alter the way the entire planet recorded time would be a better idea. Talk about going postal! While many may argue with his method, the proof is in the pudding. His bug collection is the largest in New Zealand to this day and is still on display in the Museum of New Zealand.
Collecting bugs didn't prove as catchy a rationale as George was hoping and while he is credited with inventing the scheme, William Willett gets equal billing in most accounts. Willett had a far more palatable reason and approach to the concept of changing the clocks. He just wanted a few extra minutes to finish his evening round of golf. Willett's proposal, outlined in the famous pamphlet "The Waste of Daylight," only called for a 20 minute shift as opposed to Hudson's two hour change. It was taken up by Parliament in 1908 and summarily defeated.
It wasn't until WWI that a nation actually enacted DST. Austria and Germany put it into place to deal with the war-caused coal shortages. Not wanting to be left out of the Kaiser's fun, American president Woodrow Wilson (along with several European nations) followed Germany's lead and made DST the law of the land here at home. It was repealed shortly after the war until FDR re-enacted it as "war time" in 1942. That time it stuck.
The results of DST have been suspect at best. A 1975 study, published by the Department of Energy proved conclusively that DST saves energy and then was thoroughly debunked. Several studies regarding the affects of Daylight Saving Time may not have the authority of a debunked DOE study but still present some troubling questions to the casual observer.
- Clock shifts increase the risk of heart attacks by 10%.
- Disprutions of the circadian rhythms can be severe and last for weeks.
- Suicide rates rise dramatically in the weeks following the spring transition.
As you stumble around in the dark on Sunday morning, trying to figure out how to reset the clock on your microwave, take comfort in knowing that there was a Kiwi postman and a British golfer you can blame for the heart attack you are 10% more likely to have. Happy Friday.
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