Increased deaths from daylight savings time make policy immoral
Will Cover
Like many policies in our capitalistic country, daylight savings time (DST) exists because of one simple reason: money. Since Americans tend to go out and spend at night, rather than in the morning when most stores are closed anyways, by setting clocks forward an hour sunlight begins an hour later in the morning but lasts an hour longer in the afternoon.
That’s why industries, primarily retail, that benefit financially from DST push so hard to keep it and even maximize their monetary gains from the policy by inching the date in the spring forward. The Association for Convenience and Fuel Retailing, a lobbying group for convenience stores, has advocated to start DST earlier and earlier after seeing billions of dollars in cumulative sales since Congress added a month to DST in 1986, according to the New York Times.
This program, however, should not stay in place to benefit greedy companies because it comes at the expense of a person’s quality of life and, in some circumstances, even results in death.
Because DST in the spring requires one’s body to wake up an hour earlier, it can cause sleep deprivation, which carries immense negative side effects according to Harvard University. Trouble adjusting one’s circadian rhythms to the new time can worsen one’s mood, increase one’s stress and have reverberating health consequences including obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Additionally, numerous studies link DST to an increase in deaths and health problems. A 2014 study on driving deaths from the University of Colorado Boulder found a 6.3 percent spike in traffic fatalities in the six days following the time change.
As for health issues, ischemic strokes, which come from a clot blocking blood to the brain, are also furthered by DST. As the American Academy of Neurology found in 2016, “turning the clock ahead or back one hour during daylight saving time transitions may be tied to an increased risk of ischemic stroke.”
Workplace accidents also increase following DST because of the sleep deprivation. A 2009 study of workplace accidents from Michigan State University discovered that, following the switch to DST, employees slept 40 fewer minutes per night, had 5.7 percent more injuries in the workplace and lost 67.6 percent more work days because of injuries, meaning the injuries workers sustained because of the time change were more severe than workplace injuries sustained at other times. The study concluded succinctly that “implementing Daylight Saving Time phase changes costs employees sleep and injuries.”
Although proponents of the policy advocate for the potential benefits to consumers of an extra hour of sunlight to use at night rather than in the morning, human lives are no price to pay for this time shift. Beyond that, DST more often benefits the business, not the consumer. When it comes to essential purchases, daylight is rarely, if ever, a necessity.
Rather, it’s the trivial purchases — having to pay extra gas money for driving around more at night, a little more food at a summer barbecue — that more frequently occur because of the time change, in which case those selling the products have more to gain than those buying them.
To continue to put human lives at risk for benefits to businesses is immoral, and the U.S. should at once abolish DST. Reverting to a system where the time stays constant year round would eliminate the need to readjust one’s sleep schedule twice a year, in turn preventing all of the injuries and deaths that occur due to the sleep deprivation incurred by DST.
Daylight savings time conserves energy, benefits climate
Sarah Ding
The Journal de Paris published “An Economical Project for Diminishing the Cost of Light” on April 1784. The document, penned by Benjamin Franklin, proposed changing sleep schedules in order to waste fewer candles and lamp oil. Rising with the sun, he said, would save the citizens of Paris money.
“An immense sum!” Franklin said. “That the city of Paris might save every year, by the economy of using sunshine instead of candles.”
He elaborated with regulations such as, “Every morning, as soon as the sun rises, let all the bells in every church be set ringing; and if that is not sufficient? Let cannon be fired in every street, to wake the sluggards effectually, and make them open their eyes to see their true interest.”
The rest of “An Economical Project” continues with other tongue-in-cheek remarks, as Franklin’s advice was actually a satirical essay. A hundred years later, however, his ridicule became part of American law in the form of daylight saving time (DST).
In 1902, British builder William Willett came up with the modern concept of DST, stating, “If we will reduce the length of four Sundays by 20 minutes, a loss of which practically no one would be conscious, we shall have 80 minutes more daylight after 6 p.m. every day during May, June, July and August, and an avenge of 45 minutes more every day during April and September.”
Although Willett’s idea was rejected at the time, almost every country that fought in World War I adopted the plan. The U.S. set clocks forward one hour from standard time in the spring and backward one hour in the fall, returning to standard time. People burned less coal, saving energy and thus contributing to the war effort.
Daylight saving, though perhaps inconvenient for a day, offers benefits to Americans.
It is important to understand that DST doesn’t merely refer to the two days in the year when the clocks are changed it lasts for the eight months in between the changes. Many criticisms cite confusion, schedule disruption and health problems soon after DST. One example of this is the British Medical Journal’s study which stated increased heart attacks on the days following the spring and fall time changes. Heart attacks, however, are more likely to happen during these seasons, period.
We must examine the long term effects in order to accurately gauge the benefits of DST. In 2008, the Department of Energy found a 0.5 percent decrease in energy use nationwide. Although this decrease doesn’t sound like a big difference, it equals about 1.3 billion kilowatt-hours, enough to power a dishwasher in every single US house for more than a week straight. Residential electricity and heat production makes up about 20 percent of carbon dioxide emissions, according to World Health Organization. Cutting down electricity use by just an hour a day nationwide reduces these emissions, helping combat climate change.
Although Franklin was poking fun at the idea of turning back the clocks, his satirical writings have since turned out to be accurate. With DST, people can enjoy daylight well into the evening rather than only a few fleeting moments in the morning. This makes use of natural light, conserves energy and lowers costs.
Do you think we should keep DST? Let us know in the comments below.
