This was my first experience with saving the light act. Back in India, we never got any chance to save the day light. What people used to save was money and some non-perishable goods. I was trying (some people, including one of my teachers, think/believe that there is nothing like ‘trying’ . Sorry guys, it all depends on the way you look at it), to make my son understand why he has to go to bed an hour earlier than his usual time and wake up an hour early too. Kids are like that, they question us. And, one beauty of being a child is the ability to question things …. An ability many of us lose when we grow up.
I am pretty sure that I had studied about ‘day light saving’ in geography in 7th grade or so. I don’t remember what it was but definitely they might have told us some reasons and logics. Now I am sure that I might not have properly understood it. I never thought about day light saving after that geography lesson till I got befriended with an American some 4 years ago. I did not see that person online at a particular time for many days (without notice) and I started wondering what might have happened. I got a reply
‘Sorry, I forgot to update you about the day light saving ’.
For us, this year, it started on Sunday the 14th at 2 am. And how was it?
When I woke up at 7 am on 14th, the day looked darker compared to the 7 am of 13th. What is the logic behind this pushing our clocks one hour ahead? Well, there is no logic. Ask any astronomer or geographer and they would just shrug and point their finger at......... So, it is not that easy to make kids understand what exactly is happening.
When we look at the history of this daylight saving time (DST), we won’t see any astronomer or geographer but a biologist, George Hudson. In reality, he suggested that for personal benefit. He was an entomologist and he thought if he gets extended hours (oh yeah, he was willing to get up early) he can use it for collecting specimens. And he even suggested turning the clock two hours ahead. Some other guy supported it because he wanted to play golf after work. Then the politicians took this into their hand and started playing with it with inputs from businessmen. Russia and America hardly agree on anything and hence they never change the clock on the same day. Here in the US, each State has some freedom and hence the congressmen (yes, it’s a political decision to turn the clock at 2 am) in Arizona State decided to not to observe DST, though they are very part of the US.
Why somebody want to extend the time? There are many (controversial) theories. The advocates of DST claim that we can save energy since the usage is less in the afternoon coz of the extended day light. A study by the US Department of Transportation came out with data to support this theory. But the National Bureau of Standards reviewed this data and found incorrect and according to them, the energy saved is insignificant. This is because people wakes up early and starts their life early. A study exclusively on California proved that there is no energy saved because of DST. So, it all depends on geographical factors, life style, technology, way of living and many other factors.
Some people thought it has great health benefits since people wakes up early. But this again went wrong. The group that got benefited by the extra sunlight is those who used it wisely by doing physical exercises or participated in some sports. Some studies show that DST leads to more exposure to sun which is one reason for (more) skin cancer. Another study shows the heart attack rates went up during the early days of the start of DST. Then comes the theory of reduced road accidents. Once again there were data to support this view and there were another set to disprove it. So who actually benefits from this time push?
It is the business world. Retailers can sell more since people gets more time to shop (in the evenings). Since retailers sell more, whole-sellers sell more and thus the manufacturers produce more. There was a study based on the data collected from 7-Eleven stores which showed that their sales increased by 30 million during this DST period (its an old study).
DST disturbs our normal sleep pattern. Those who are undergoing a therapy for insomnia are the ones who are in real trouble during this time shift. Companies with international clients and meetings also face some issues. Some countries abolished practicing DST since it resulted in more health related complications (eg. Kazakhstan ). China and Japan too dropped it. DST is kind of cheating…. sometimes coated with ignorance or vested interests. . I read somewhere that ‘…DST is not Uncle Sam’s idea but it was in existence even in the BC’. Was that really DST?. Those days, people adjusted their activities based on sunset and sunrise and they did not try to push the clock and fool themselves. And the ‘modern’ man? The modern man simply turns the clock forward and says:
‘Look, the sun sets very late these days !, isn’t it awesome?’
I hope, one day, the political leaders from all the countries would sit together and decide:
‘ Ok guys, now on, we will follow the Sun’
High hopes ! (Who said that?)
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