While the clock reads 5:17, I write to you in the dark of a dusk long passed. Something in that sentence should evoke a certain emotion. The phrase feels inherently paradoxical as though the time of day does not align with the light of my surrounding environment. Daylight savings has created this inherent paradox, and we all willingly oblige. We turn our clocks, turn our thoughts away from how we feel about turning our clocks and turn our sleep schedules around. Although many debate the necessity of the tradition of “turns,” the benefits of daylight savings far outweigh any inconvenience that seasonal transitions and varied wakeup times may cause.
As time changes have come and gone, an increasing number of Americans have disputed the importance of daylight savings with experts citing it as a contributor to issues of sleep deprivation and irregularity. Last year, the U.S. Senate approved the Sunshine Protection Act without dissent. Just this March, Sen. Marc Rubio re-introduced the act. In doing so, he launched an ongoing dialogue about the potential implications of eradicating daylight savings. Some concerned themselves with how the practice interrupts circadian rhythms. Others argued that waning daylight as a result of the time change might prompt more accidents to occur with people commuting home from work in the dark. Discourse aside, the bill would have made the most recent switch permanent, putting an end to a time-honored custom. Currently, the act remains idle while it awaits President Joe Biden’s approval. Thus, no time quite like the present exists to change the way we look at the biannual burden of daylight savings.
Fundamentally, daylight savings creates a change of pace that makes changing seasons feel more natural. This past November 5th, I watched as the numbers on my computer screen turned from 2:59 AM to 2:00 AM again- time seemingly gifted to me to justify the fact that I lay awake at such an extreme hour. Subsequently, when the chill of late afternoon arrived to remind me that I must give up my beloved school day for the strenuous hours of my post-school routine, as did what felt like a premature sunset. Before I knew it, a whole day had slipped from my grasp with a silent, notorious time change to blame.
With nothing in my power to do about it, I felt unsure of what to make of the day that dwindled before me. Soon enough however, I came to the conclusion that the faster it passed, the more appreciative I became of the thing that allowed it to do so. Daylight savings eases the transition between the safety of early autumn and the somewhat brutal quality of deep winter. Through shortening each day and prompting the onset of night, the practice provides an adjustment drastic enough to impact one’s immediate perception of time. However, the change feels appropriately subtle and ensures no schedule gets radically altered in the shift to shorter spans of sunlight. Fundamentally, the fall time change offers a chance for something new and different amid the stagnancy of the school year’s early weeks. Even if that new and different thing simply manifests as an hour of daylight lost or gained, the change moves fall forward.
All the more, daylight savings allows individuals to experience the advantages of a different wake up time. While the predominant argument against the tradition takes the form of a concern for its detrimental effect on sleep, I argue the opposite. With many Fieldston community members waking up in the early stretch of morning between 5:30 AM and 7:30 AM to prepare themselves for the day, an extra hour of sleep feels invaluable. Daylight savings grants us Fieldston community members precisely this gift. 5:30 AM feels like 6:30 AM and 7:00 AM swiftly turns to 8:00 AM. Though the absence of this hour of sleep during spring daylight savings appears a personal loss, waking up an hour earlier (via force or intention) can offer a refreshing experience. After all, studies have found that an earlier wakeup often leads to enhanced productivity and better retention skills. Therefore, whether one wants to try sleeping in a bit later or reaping the benefits early risers experience, the time changes naturally allow us to enjoy both alternatives.
While daylight savings seems equally beloved and hated, it can serve as a fruitful avenue towards seamless seasonal transitions and increased productivity. The custom does not need popularity to justify its existence as a hallmark of the human experience. In sacrificing an hour, we save ourselves from a fate of repeated, habitual living. So, perhaps a paradox, daylight savings position as a schedule savior far outweighs the minimal sacrifice it affords.
