What’s the time in NZ? For some people, daylight savings is the first peep of the upcoming summer months. For others, it is, well, a pain in the butt. For Sarah Lang, it’s definitely the latter. She makes the case for why we should consider abolishing daylight savings
For me, Daylight Savings is like jet lag without the duty-free. I’ve considered boycotting it. I’ve thought, oh maybe I could just cruise through to April on an alternate timeline – like, hey, I can just do the math if I have a meeting or an interview! Yeah I know, that’s not practical.
Overnight on Saturday night – well, technically Sunday morning – our clocks will be put forward an hour at 2am – in order to extend daylight hours so we can better enjoy warm spring and summer evenings. Some call it ‘springing’ the clock forward an hour. I call it ‘deleting an hour’. At university, I didn’t like losing an hour during an assessment-heavy time of year.
It takes my body close to a fortnight to get used to the new clock. My brain yells out that, no, this isn’t the right time to go to bed or to wake up. Daylight savings is particularly testing for people who have trouble sleeping.
It seems I’m not abnormal. Accordingly to a Psychology Today article, it can several days or even weeks to fully adjust.
A friend tells me: “It takes all of our household two weeks as well and this time I’m pregnant so it’s going to be hell.” Another says “It takes me weeks to recover, I get exhausted”. A third person says “can we abolish it already?”.
Disturbing The Cycle
As humans, we have a circadian rhythm – what some call an internal clock – that regulates sleep, appetite, mood and other biological processes. And the Daylight Savings time shift disrupts our sleep-wake cycle.
Exposure to light later in the evening delays the brain’s release of melatonin (the hormone that promotes drowsiness).So when the clock goes forward, most of us go to bed before hours of darkness have signaled to our bodies that it’s time to sleep. Also, darker mornings can make it harder to get up and get going. (Sometimes I need to play the motivational anthem Eye Of The Tiger to get myself out of bed.)
Children can make thing trickier. Babies and their nap times don’t magically adapt to Daylight Savings. Kids woken earlier for school or daycare can be cranky – and later you have to convince them that it is in fact bedtime, even though it’s light outside.
It’s generally harder to adjust in September than in April. Beth Marlow, an American neurology professor, says that “moving the time forward an hour is much harder on the body than moving it backwards, and the effects can last all summer”.
The Effects Of Daylight Savings
Daylight Savings isn’t just a matter of being a bit tired for a few days. According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, ‘springing forwards’ is harmful. Its position is that “these seasonal time changes should be abolished in favour of a fixed, national, year-round standard time”.
Disrupted sleep and fatigue can affect productivity and absenteeism. Studies have found an association between Daylight Savings and accidents, including traffic accidents (because we’re more tired).
Studies show that Daylight Savings can exacerbate anxiety, stress and Seasonal Affective Disorder: a mood disorder that affects people at the same time each year and that is related to light and melatonin.
And, according to the American Heart Association, researchers have noted an increase in heart attacks and strokes in the days following the time change.
That’s a heck of a cons list.
Who Does & Doesn’t Follow Daylight Savings
In Europe, 37 out of 44 countries observe Daylight Saving, and it’s also observed in parts of North America, Latin America and Australia. However, currently, about two-thirds of the world’s countries don’t do it, according to Pew Research Center.
A BBC story states that, “over the last decade, countries and states around the world have abolished the practice of daylight saving time for various reasons, while other locations still cling to the practice despite health experts saying it is damaging”.
Do many people dislike it? An article called ‘The science behind why people hate Daylight Saving Time so much’ says “poll after poll finds most people unified in their dislike of switching clocks back and forth with the season”. It asks ‘can we use research and policy to change (or not change) the clocks for the last time?’.
Yes, plenty of people will say they aren’t affected much by Daylight Savings, or they think it’s worth the sacrifice to have lighter summer evenings. But I also know people who want it scrapped. So can we please have a referendum on Daylight Savings in New Zealand? I’d personally schedule it for the morning after Daylight Savings next September!
Tips On Adjusting To Daylight Savings
In the meantime, what can we do to help us ease into the new schedule?
One scientific suggestion – for adults and children – is to go to bed 15 minutes earlier each night for four nights before the time change. Given it’s happening tonight, though, you could adjust your bedtime by 15 minutes over the next four nights.
The Sleep Foundation’s article ‘How to Prepare for the Start and End of Daylight Saving Time’ has some good advice.
Prioritising getting daylight exposure early in the morning as you can
Try not to overload your schedule on the week after Daylight Savings
Practise sleep hygiene (which is always advisable):
- Maintaining a fixed sleep schedule on both weekdays and weekends (unless you’re doing the 15-minute changes in the days following Daylight Savings)
- Having a regular routine to get ready for bed each night
- Limiting or avoiding caffeine and alcohol, especially in the afternoon and evening
- Going ‘device-free’ for at least 30 minutes before bed
- Blocking out unwanted noise and light from your bedroom, or, if necessary, wearing accessories like a sleep mask and ear plugs
I’ll be doing all those things, but I’ll also be grumpier next week (this is a warning to my editors!), I’ll be my usual self again in two weeks – and maybe more inclined to appreciate spring evenings.
