Daylight Saving Time (DST) started yesterday at 2:00 AM. The original intent of DST was to save energy by extending the time of day around sunset. Silly, right? I suppose they might have burned less whale oil in the 18th century when Ben Franklin proposed daylight saving time, but it doesn’t make much sense today. You can’t make a day shorter or longer by fiddling with the hands of a clock. God created the day a specific length, and there’s nothing humans can do about it. Yet we always want to tussle with nature like we can fix it, but it’s not broken, it works perfectly.
DST has been in the news a lot lately; I thought it had already been canceled. Trump has signed hundreds of bizarre executive orders, but he can’t eliminate DST without an act of Congress, I guess. The Senate already passed “The Sunshine Act” in 2022, but the House has not voted yet. I think the plan is to end it on November 2nd this year, but politicians can’t decide if they want standard time or DST to become permanent.
It’s Lunacy
Just the idea that state and federal governments are so deeply divided on whether to set the hands of a clock one way or the other exemplifies why society might be doomed. It’s not like they can change when the sun comes up or goes down, and thinking or believing that changing the hands on a clock makes any difference is lunacy.
“Time isn’t the main thing. It’s the only thing.” ~ Miles Davis
The concept is so ridiculous that I have often wondered if it was created to purposely screw with people’s circadian clocks and and cause sleep deprivation. As conspiracy theorists say, rule #1 is to keep the sheep off balance and as sick and dysfunctional as possible. Doctors and researchers warn that the DST time shift increases the risk of heart attacks, strokes and car accidents.
Studies show a 24% spike in heart attacks on the Monday after DST starts and a 6% increase in car accidents the week following the time change. Circadian rhythm is a major driver for health, and upsetting that rhythm should not be taken lightly. The fact that most states still artificially shift clock hands back and forth twice a year, when it’s detrimental to human health, is more than a little disturbing.
Saving Energy
The only reason they offer for the ludicrous shifting of clock hands is to conserve energy. Interestingly, another energy-saving regulation governments push also impacts circadian rhythm: incandescent light bulb restrictions. Governments have created regulations to replace warm incandescent bulbs with LED and fluorescent light bulbs. These artificial lights produce cold blue light that significantly impacts circadian rhythm and health, especially in the evening. They should be switched off or replaced with warm, red light bulbs.
“Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.” ~ William Penn
Artificial blue light in the evening and night increases the risk of developing circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders, which are caused by a misalignment of endogenous circadian rhythms and external light-dark cycles. Serotonin, Melatonin, and Cortisol are the hormones that drive sleep and alertness, and sunlight and the Circadian clock control them.
The Master Clock
The clock you need to pay attention to is not the one on the wall set to standard time or DST. It’s your central master clock, the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) in your hypothalamus. Ambient light in the environment, not some government regulation, sets the time of your master clock. Your master clock does not understand artificial blue light. It sends the wrong signal, releasing the wrong hormones and causing Circadian dysfunction.
What time your watch is set to is not nearly as important as getting plenty of full spectrum sunlight through your retina and on to your suprachiasmatic nuclei, fine-tuning your master clock to your environment. Reason enough to get up every morning to celebrate the sunrise.
“Every sunrise is a poem written on the earth with words of light, warmth, and love.” ~ Debasish Mridha