Spring Forward…Fall Behind
Olivia Fernandez (7)
What is daylight savings?
Daylight savings began in the 1970’s. America was in the midst of an energy crisis.
Due to the crisis congress had passed a law to make daylight savings permanent each year. But only for two years but then eventually it just stuck with America. The thinking was that more sunlight in the evening would reduce the nation’s energy consumption. There are many benefits to this change. Longer daylight hours were proven to promote safety for joggers, children playing outside and people walking dogs. Although it started to help reduce the amount of energy that was used. Are the stats still the same since 1970?
Is daylight savings worldwide?
Even though daylight savings was for an energy crisis, many other countries used this as well.
Even though other countries use it, not all countries do. Many countries do not use it but not for the reason you might think. Some countries don’t use it due to health concerns for the citizens. In the last decade alone, Iran, Jordan, Turkey and Syria stopped doing the seasonal change.
In 2023 researchers recorded a study about what are the health concerns for daylight savings. “The scientific evidence points to acute increases in adverse health consequences from changing the clocks, including in heart attack and stroke.” Says a study on March 9, 2023.
Due to this study many countries have not continued the seasonal change in almost a decade.
Research shows that only about a third of the world’s countries practice daylight saving time.
Why do we still have daylight saving time?
Even though congress passed the bill long ago, research shows our energy crisis has actually worsened through the years. Since 1970 America’s energy crisis has increased! The spike of this crisis was during the pandemic, when our energy price levels almost doubled! Many believe that daylight savings should end because it would eliminate the inconsistencies in timing tied to the fact that not all U.S. states and other countries implement DST. Other people believe we should have daylight saving not because of their concern for our energy usage but because they find it safer and its part of a seasonal “tradition.” All in all, Daylight Savings begins March 10th and ends all the way in November. So get ready to lose an hour of sleep this Sunday! At least it falls over Spring Break!