Did you wake up to pitch black darkness this morning, wishing beyond all hope that your alarm was malfunctioning only to realize that you actually needed to bust yourself into second gear to get to work on time?
Yep, it's that time of year again, when all of the clocks are turned forward one hour in some outdated, unnecessary scheme that has only continued to make one particular spring weekend a year unbearably difficult.
Daylight Saving Time began early Sunday morning, flinging us one hour ahead into the future.
While we'll see an extra hour of sunlight in the later hours, we also lose an hour of sleep.
This is why Daylight Saving Time is the absolute worst.
It's irrelevant
Do you know the history behind DST? Well, you're about to learn. It was originally proposed by Ben Franklin in order to preserve candles as people often slept past dawn but used candles after sunset.
Yet it was only initially adopted by America during WWI and WWII to save energy by giving the American people an extra hour of sunlight.
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However, many studies have shown that the American people currently uses more energy during daylight savings than when daylight savings is off. The practice is outdated and unnecessary.
Additionally, though the idea was proposed in order to help farmers, farmers actually fought tirelessly against the law, stating it reduced their production.
Lose an hour of sleep
Do we really have to go into this? If you're anything like us, you probably felt like a zombie this morning in your attempts to wake up.
That one hour may seem minuscule, but it can put you in a daze until your internal clock recalibrate.
It's dark an hour longer in the morning
We could say that it's difficult to wake up in the dark, but some of us already wake up prior to the sunrise anyway. However, when the sun takes an hour longer to rise (at least according to our DST clocks), many aspects of our lives can be affected.
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Used to driving in the daylight? Get used to driving in the dark, at least until the summer sunlight hours kick in. Does your alarm go off just as the sun's rising? Get ready to turn on that light to get ready in the morning only after you realize this isn't some sick joke someone's pulling on you.
Causes a 5-7% increase in car accidents
Though the Department of Transportation states that car accidents decrease due to the added hour of daylight, this is simply not true.
Depending on whether or not you're simply reeling from a lack of sleep or because you're not used to driving in the dark (or light at night), studies have shown that the rate of fatal accidents increase by about 5-7% in the three days following DST changes.
However, the jump in accidents can also be seen when the public falls back in the fall. DST is just not doing us any favors.
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It's bad for our health
Did you know that the rate of heart attacks increases following the DST switch?
A University of Alabama Birmingham study found that the adjustment in the clock in the spring causes a 10% increase in heart attack risks within the following week.
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However, when the clocks turn back in the fall, that number decrease by 10%. Between heart attacks and car accidents, we'd prefer the clocks remain steady rather than this constant switch.
Spring ahead? What spring?
Does it feel like spring to you? It did last weekend, but we all know that was pretty much a fluke. We won't be feeling temperatures like that again for a minute.
However, between the groundhogs predicting an early spring and this whole "spring ahead" notion, we can't help but get excited for warmer weather, flowers, and rooftop bars.
Unfortunately, DST is a tease.
It's not universal
Just because the United States changes our clocks every few months does not mean the rest of the world does as well. If you have any dealings with people in other countries, you may soon find your timelines slightly askew.
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Daylight Saving Time is not a universal practice. In fact, it can be regulated by territories and states. Some states in the U.S., like parts of Arizona and Hawaii, simply do not observe DST.
Just pick one already!
We're not saying that we're a-okay with losing an hour of sunlight, but who says that we have to choose the fall behind option? Why not just spring ahead and keep it that way?
In our humble opinions, it would do us a lot of good rather than semiannually flipping a switch on our internal clock.
Check out 9 Things You Absolutely Must Do This Spring in NYC.
[Feature Image Courtesy BrainSnorts]