Not long ago I was scheduled to coach a high-performance tennis family at 8:00 on a Sunday morning. It happened to be the day after the evening in which those of us in the eastern time zone of the U.S. were scheduled to turn our clocks back; as it’s more colloquially known, daylight savings time. I remembered to do so before calling it a night. My first thought after awakening the following morning was, I wonder if my tennis family remembered?
There are certainly worse things in life than showing up to coach a full hour before one’s students. However, sleep, like time itself, is a precious commodity, both of which I highly value. For years I commuted to my position as a media executive in NYC, getting up at 5:00 am and rarely returning home before 7:30 pm. In my military life with the USAF after college the clock was 24/7. We arose as the mission dictated and slept when and where able. Fortunately, my tennis students did, in fact, remember to turn their clocks back. No harm, no foul.
Many of us lament the shorter days of fall and winter, especially in the northern latitudes. Even snow lovers such as winter sports enthusiasts complain about the lengthening shadows cutting across snow-covered slopes by mid-afternoon. I’m a sunshine and palm tree kind of guy. Summer is my favorite time of year for myriad reasons. However, I’ve always been curious about the rational for what’s become known as spring forward and fall back.
Anecdotally, a thrifty Ben Franklin is believed to have first thought of the idea of a shorter winter day and a longer summer day. However, historically, (1)in 1895, George Hudson, an entomologist from New Zealand, came up with the modern concept of daylight saving time. He proposed a two-hour time-shift so he’d have more after-work hours of sunshine to go bug hunting in the summer.
(2)Seven years later, British builder William Willett (the great-great grandfather of Coldplay front-man Chris Martin) independently hit on the idea while out horseback riding. He proposed it to England’s Parliament as a way to prevent the nation from wasting daylight. His idea was championed by Winston Churchill and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle—but was initially rejected by the British government. Willett kept arguing for the concept up until his death in 1915.
In 1916, two years into World War I, the German government started brainstorming ways to save energy. As outlined by author David Prerau, in Seize the Daylight: The Curious and Contentious Story of Daylight Saving Time, (sic) (3)“While the British were talking about it year after year, the Germans decided to do it more or less by fiat.”
(4)Soon, England and almost every other country that fought in World War I followed suit. So did the United States: On March 9, 1918, Congress enacted its first daylight saving law—and it was a two-fer: In addition to saving daylight, the Standard Time Act defined time zones in the U.S. In those days, coal power was king, so people really did save energy (and thus contribute to the war effort) by changing their clocks.
Today, one’s preference for either standard time or daylight savings time is often a function of where one resides. First, it’s important to note that the energy savings associated with this time shift decision in the early years of the 20th century no longer apply. Consider our planetary physics. (5)The further you travel from the Equator, the more drastic the seasons will be. That’s because Earth is tilted on its axis with respect to the sun. The top and bottom portions of the globe receive more-or- less sunlight at different times of the year, making the loss of daylight hours more pronounced.
Although countries and specific geographies with countries that adopt a ‘spring forward, fall back’ approach are subject to change here’s a **map of those that do and don’t as of this writing.
(6)Daylight saving time indifference causes one U.S. state—Hawaii—to brush off the time change entirely. Arizona, where scorching temperatures often make night the only bearable time to be outside, also said no to moving its clocks around, because its residents preferred to savor the cool nighttime hours.
Empirical data indicate that the transition to and from daylight savings time (fall back) and standard time (spring forward) can have significant consequences in the short term. Risks increase for heart attacks, car accidents and other issues linked to sleep deprivation and a disruption of one’s circadian rhythms. Fortunately, these issues seem to be temporary, unless, of course, the car accident or heart attack was fatal.
For those of us who experience this time shift its sort of like a bump in the road met with a resigned sigh. The good news is that before too long we can look forward to longer days of sunlight. Meanwhile, don’t forget to set your clock(s).
I hope you enjoy this thematically appropriate musical interlude as you read this blog article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qssWO8NSq0
** Map: Thomas Mann, Medium
(1) National Geographic, Daylight saving time 2019: The odd history of changing our clocks, Erin Blakemore, November 1, 2019Ibid
(2) Ibid
(3) David Prerau, Seize the Daylight: The Curious and Contentious Story of Daylight Saving Time
(4) National Geographic, Daylight saving time 2019: The odd history of changing our clocks, Erin Blakemore, November 1, 2019
(5) Ibid
(6) Ibid