Here’s to all the years of screwing up our sleep.
Daylight saving time turns 100 today, but we doubt anyone’s going to throw a party.
On this day in 1918, Congress passed the Standard Time Act that established time zones and daylight saving time.
This wacky idea to move around time was first proposed by none other than Benjamin Franklin way back in 1784. But it wasn’t passed in this country until near the end of World War I.
The President at the time, Woodrow Wilson, had the good sense to try and kill this thing by vetoing it, but lawmakers overrode it anyway.
And it’s been a wild, strange trip since then.
After the bill’s passage in 1918, Daylight Saving Time lasted for about a year — until an outcry from farmers and others led to its repeal. (Still some states kept recognizing it)
Then we had a long stretch where there was no federal law until 1966. But then Congress passed the Uniform Time Act , which established the system of uniform Daylight Saving Time throughout the US.
Here’s a timeline.
Let us list the reasons why
The reasons for daylight saving include everything from saving energy, to helping truck drivers keep track of time, to just having more time to enjoy sunny evenings during the summer.
But a lot of these so-called benefits of daylight saving time don’t hold up under scrutiny.
Saves energy? Not really. An Energy Department study from about a decade ago showed that daylight saving time cut our energy use by a whopping 0.03%. Oh the savings! Another study suggests daylight saving time actually increases energy consumption.
We’ve also been told that farmers love daylight saving time because it helps them get their harvests in. Nope.
Farmers hate it too, saying it cuts down on productivity and makes life just plain miserable down on the farm.
It’s not the time; it’s the switch
Now let’s be clear. Most of us — 55% to be exact — aren’t really bothered by daylight saving time at all, according to a poll last year from Princeton.
What we hate is the switch. We hate losing an hour of sleep every March when we all have to “spring forward” for it.
A handful of studies also suggest making the switch is bad for our health. A 2016 study said the overall rate for stroke is 8% higher in the two days after daylight saving time. The switch to daylight saving time has been linked to increases in heart attacks as well.
Most countries outside of Europe and North America don’t take part in daylight saving time. Neither do Arizona and Hawaii.
And lawmakers in Florida just recently said, ‘To hell with it, we’ll eliminate the need for the switch altogether.” They voted to make it daylight saving time all the time. But what else should we expect from the state nicknamed the Sunshine State?