Hawaii, most of Arizona, Guam, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, and American Samoa do not use daylight saving time. Neither do China, Japan, and many other countries. I continue to wonder (as I do twice a year, every year) why the rest of us continue with such a barbaric practice.

There’s a study, that there are measurable health effects associated with the daylight saving time shift, showing the elevated risk of cardiovascular diseases, injuries, behavioral disorders, and immune diseases that result from messing with our circadian rhythms and sleep schedules.

DST can increase our appetite and throw off our meal schedule. One study found that our bodies never adjust to DST. Rather, the change reduces our sleep by 19 minutes per night until standard time is restored. DST causes sleep deprivation, which causes memory issues, difficulty with social interactions, and reduced learning capacity.

Plus, bedtime for little ones will be difficult in the spring, because they won’t be ready for bed, and in the fall, because they may be overtired by bedtime. For teens, they feel the effects more because they need more sleep than adults.

The original argument for energy savings has become moot, considering increased air conditioning use in the summer. Most businesses work on a time-based schedule rather than a daylight-based schedule, so the argument on DST being good for the economy is inconclusive.

More of us (40%, versus 31%) want permanent standard time. Let us sleep, connect with our bodies’ natural rhythms, and allow us to focus on real problems.

 

Kristen Otenti

Waterville