How Daylight Saving Time is killing people worldwide?!
From fantastic movies you know that when you mess with time, bad things happen. So what are the consequences of ‘saving an hour’ every year? It’s juicier than you could ever imagine.
But first, what is this ‘saved one hour’?
The concept was proposed by some genius in 1916. The idea was simple — move the clock one hour forward in March, move it back in November. The time in between is called Daylight Saving Time, or Summer Time. The time from November to March is called Standard Time.
Countries switch time on March 8 and November 1.
Why would someone think of this?
‘Someone’ wanted people to experience more sunlight during the day. After going back home from work or school the sun wouldn’t be down yet, so the residents could become more active and engaged in social life. Therefore, people would spend more time outside working out, just walking and going out.
- Now, when people go out more, they spend more money which benefits the economy.
- If people spend more time outside, they become healthier.
- Moreover, the number of crimes and car accidents goes down because of the great visibility in peak hours.
- It saves energy! People go back home when it’s daylight so they don’t need to turn the lights on. The government doesn’t need to pay for the street lighting either. And it’s good for the environment.
Generally, this system makes people happier because they see sunlight after work. Going back home when it’s dark outside is sad, it feels like the day is already over.
To sum up, there are many valid reasons why Summer Time just makes sense… Until it doesn’t.
There are terrible consequences…
Every year in March we lose one hour when we move the clock 1 hour ahead. It means every one of us* does not get one hour of sleep that day. So what?- you might say. I don’t get 3–4 hours each night. Well, it’s really bad for your long-term health and your performance. Your body may bу dealing with this for now because you are still healthy.
Here’s your data on daylight savings, by the way:
- The transition disrupts public transport, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and (obviously) sleep.
- The first day after advancing clocks in spring the risk of Heart Attack goes up by 24%. In November, it’s the opposite, the risk lowers by 21%.
- In March, the number of car accidents increases dramatically, and so does the number of suicides.
- Judges are more strict and give longer sentences because they didn’t get that one hour in the morning.
- The productivity of the society goes down.
* ones from countries that change time, not mine, fortunately.
So… are we not gonna do anything about it?
Really, we are trying. The European Union was supposed to stop this nonsense by 2021. Due to the Coronavirus outbreak, some paperwork hadn’t been finalized on time so the deadlines were moved again.
Some countries, like Russia, have refused this system long ago. There has disturbing data about Daylight savings back in 2003, yet for some reason, many developed and developing countries keep on using it.
Hopefully, next year the problem will be solved!
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