Once again, it’s time to exercise the misguided practice of Daylight Saving Time. Originally imposed in 1918 to conserve energy for that insane slaughter and rampage known as World War 1, it was immediately dropped a year later – and by public demand. However, it was reinstated during World War 2 and practiced continuously – winter and summer. After the War, states and localities were left to themselves to decide about DST, but in 1966, it became the law of the land. In 2007, the duration of DST was extended from early March until early November – the longest it has ever been – except for the times it was yearlong.
Besides energy conservation, which has been a major, but dubious, justification for DST, there has also been an alleged benefit to farmers. But, that’s ridiculous because no one needs to coordinate his or her actions with real solar time more than do farmers. Ask any of them. And supposedly, DST is good for business because it gets people spending more money on leisure activities such as sporting equipment, bar-b-queing, etc. So, DST helps us be good little consumers.
However, this deliberate deviation from real solar time hurts us all, but some suffer more than others depending on where they live. I will explain, but first let’s look at why DST is such a harmful practice.
Inner Time: The Scienc...
Best Price: $3.99
Buy New $15.00
(as of 03:00 UTC - Details)
Like other creatures, humans are circadian beings, meaning that our biological rhythms are timed with the earth’s rotation around the sun. The most obvious example is the wake/sleep cycle, but there are others, for example, hormonal secretion. In men, DHEA and Testosterone are pumped out in copious amounts in the morning; melatonin pours out in the evening after the sun goes down; and it’s during deep sleep at night that Growth Hormone is released. In women, it is more complicated because of the menstrual cycle. But, it is vital for both sexes to remain in sync with real solar time. Dire consequences follow if we don’t. For instance, we know now that night workers have a much higher incidence of cancer, and it’s believed to result from melatonin suppression. Melatonin is a hormone that is most often associated with inducing sleep, but it does so much more. Melatonin is the most potent antioxidant in your body, meaning that, milligram per milligram, it is by far the strongest. It is also the most global antioxidant, meaning that it goes everywhere, protecting everything. Melatonin is also anti-mutagenic. It prevents abnormal cell divisions, and it encourages apoptosis, which is how deviant cells self-destruct. But staying up at night in the artificial light shuts down melatonin secretion – almost completely.
But, it isn’t just our sleep and our hormones that have a circadian bias. So do our patterns of eating, digesting, thinking, responding sexually, and ultimately our entire mood depends on being in sync with Nature’s clock. There is no question that Daylight Saving Time puts a needless strain on everyone. But, it’s worse for some than for others.
The Body Clock Guide t...
Best Price: $0.19
Buy New $11.16
(as of 10:50 UTC - Details)
Let’s take Central Time as an example. The meridian for the Central Time zone goes through New Orleans, Louisiana, which means that during Standard Time, official time matches solar time – in New Orleans. Perfect! But, for every degree of longitude that you move west of New Orleans within the Central Time Zone, you have to put the clock back 4 minutes to remain in sync with real solar time. So for me, for instance, living in Austin, Texas, which is 7.5 degrees of longitude west of New Orleans, 7.5 x 4 = 30 minutes of deviation. So, even during Standard Time, my clock is skewed by half an hour. When it says 12 Noon, it’s really 11:30 AM. But, during Daylight Saving Time, our time is further skewed by an additional hour. So, in the summer when we say it’s 12 Noon, it’s really only 10:30 AM! That’s ridiculous. It’s no wonder that people marvel at how hot it is here at 5 PM in the summer. It’s because it’s really only 3:30!
But, it’s just the opposite for Lew Rockwell in Auburn, Alabama, which is also in the Central Time Zone, but east of the center meridian. Because the sun reaches him earlier, it’s later in the day for him than it is in New Orleans. During Standard Time, real solar time for him is a little less than half an hour later than what his clock says. If it says, 12 Noon, it’s really about 12:22. But, during Daylight Saving Time, since he moves his clock forward, he corrects that deviation and then overshoots it by a little more than half an hour. During DST, he gets about the same amount of deviation that we get in Austin during Standard Time. But, during both CST and DST, he is within one hour of his real solar time. He never gets the hour and a half skewing that we get here in Austin. That’s why we call him Lucky Lew.
Keeping in Time With Y...
Best Price: $3.00
Buy New $21.84
(as of 10:10 UTC - Details)
So, find out where the center meridian is for your time zone. In blunt language: if you’re west of it, you’re screwed, and if you’re east of it, you’re getting off easy.
The ones I worry about most from this Daylight Saving nonsense are the kids. Children are uncorrupted solar beings. They are growing and developing, and they need everything to be in sync. Look how difficult it is for a child to stay up all night compared to an adult. Look at how they suffer from even slight sleep deprivation, how it shows up in their little faces with swollen, puffy eyes and listless looks. DST is child abuse, and as a grandfather, I resent what is being done to my grandchildren.
If I were in charge, not only would I do away with Daylight Saving Time, I would also increase the number of time zones. For instance, the meridian going through San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, and cities further north along the same line would have a time zone. Why not? We’re talking about tens of millions of people in the United States alone. Why shouldn’t they be allowed to live in sync with solar time? I think it’s everyone’s right – as an Earthling! – to live in real solar time. But, the first step would be to just do away with Daylight Saving Time. That would be so easy, and it could be done so fast. It wouldn’t involve doing anything. We would just have to stop doing something that was stupid. But, that’s a tall order when politicians are involved.
So, what am I going to be doing on Sunday morning? I can tell you what I won’t be doing: I won’t be fiddling with my clocks. I’m leaving them as they are. And as much as possible, I will ignore Daylight Saving Time. It’s just my little way of sticking it to The Man.
