When I reflect on the person that I was 20 years ago, I hardly recognize myself. My values, my priorities, and my ambitions have all undergone radical changes with the passage of time. Some of the things that seemed to be of great import in my younger days have all but disappeared from my mental radar screen, while others that I may have taken for granted back then have my full attention now.
One of the things that I scarcely gave a passing thought to as a young man was my health. I could pretty much do as I pleased with my body and there were few consequences. Excessive physical activity, poor nutrition, sleeping only when it was convenient – all of these vices I used to be able to indulge in without a second thought and I was still able to roll out of bed every morning and face the day more or less at full speed.
Now it is a very different story. I have to take care of myself or I know I will pay the price. So even though I wouldn’t call myself a health nut, I try to make good decisions when it comes to how I treat my body. That means working outside all day in the mid-summer heat is not an option, a bag of potato chips no longer passes for a meal, and I try to be in bed every night long before David Letterman does his opening monologue.
But sometimes, no matter how hard I try to take care of my health, things happen outside of my control that force me to engage in unhealthy behavior. That can be very frustrating. And one of those frustrating, out-of-my-control health hazards will be making its regularly scheduled (and unwelcome) visit in just a few weeks. I am talking about the menace known as Daylight Saving Time.
Soon I will be forced to “spring forward”, losing a valuable hour of sleep one night and (even worse) hopelessly mucking up my circadian rhythm for untold weeks to come. It isn’t fair, it isn’t right, and as far as I am concerned it doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Daylight Saving Time is supposed to allow us to enjoy an “extra” hour of daylight in the spring and summer months, but frankly I believe I would enjoy those days much more if I wasn’t half-asleep most of the time. There is also a school of thought that says it saves on energy costs and is good for certain types of businesses, but those contentions have never been quantified or proven.
The benefits of changing our clocks twice a year are relatively nebulous and anecdotal, but the costs to our collective health are concrete and well-known. Lack of proper sleep has been shown to be a major health hazard afflicting many Americans, and setting and resetting the time twice a year significantly aggravates the problem.
Therefore I believe that it is time to stop springing forward and/or falling back. Let’s pick a time and stick with it, and we’ll all be a little healthier and a little less grumpy all year ‘round.
If you feel the same way, you might be asking yourself if there is an organization that is fighting to get DST repealed and if said group has a web site. There is, and they do. If you’re interested, surf on over to www.standardtime.com and see how you can get involved in ending the madness known as Daylight Saving Time. Sign the petition and click on the links that tell you how to write your congressional representatives to share your feelings on the matter with them.
Hey, I know this isn’t curing cancer or anything, but I really believe we would all be a little happier and healthier if we introduced some stability into our time keeping system. That’s a (lack of) change I can believe in.
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