Szajnzinger.
Daylight Savings in BC. March 12,
2018.
Why do we change our clocks
twice a year? BC Premier John Horgan has
been toying with the idea of repealing Daylight Savings Time (DST). Although it is common practice in many parts
of in British Columbia, there are still many people who find contention with
the time switch, and worldwide it is a much less accepted idea. The question that must be asked is, it necessary
for this time switch to occur?
The first use of Daylight
Saving Time (DST) in Canada was in 1908.
It was adopted during both World War I and World War II to save on fuel
but was repealed during the time between the wars.
There are several reasons that
are often used to promote the switch to DST each year, the main one, according
to CBC News, is that energy will potentially be saved due to more sunlight
hours. A study conducted in Indiana,
however, found that this generally caused people to use more energy in their
household. According to Scientific
American, Indiana adopted DST in 2006, which allowed studies to be conducted
with data on energy consumption for before and after DST – these comparisons
showed a 1% increase in household energy consumption. Scientific American also mentions another
study carried out in California that demonstrated “extending daylight time had little to no effect on energy use
in the state” as the results fell within the statistical margin of error.
Another important factor for the
pro-DST camp is the hope that businesses will reap the benefits of people
enjoying the extra daylight hours, people will go out and spend their money –
particularly on gas, due to more travel time.
This reasoning goes against why Daylight Savings Time was adopted during
both WWI and WWII. Arguing that DST will
both save energy and encourage people to buy more gas makes DST seem incredibly
contradictory. While more daylight hours
have been suggested to prevent accidents on the road, the exhaustion caused by
the one-hour loss when time returns to Daylight Savings Time causes more
accidents.
Encouraging people to go out and enjoy the extra daylight also negates
the argument of saving energy, as more people on the roads means more harmful
emissions being added to the atmosphere.
Going forward, it must be considered that DST can have a variety
of undesirable side-effects on health.
Just as jet lag can be problematic.
An article from 2009 that was published in the Journal of Applied
Psychology by Barnes and Wagner showed that “on Mondays directly following the
switch to Daylight Saving Time—in which one hour is lost—workers sustain more
workplace injuries and injuries of greater severity.” The article in Scientific American further outlines the increased
risk of heart attacks following the loss of sleep.
There does not appear to be any concrete positive evidence
in support of switching to Daylight Saving Time each year. Considering the
variety of problematic responses humans face due to the loss of one hour of
sleep, perhaps DST should be adopted year round, or done away with completely.
References
Barnes, C.M. & Wagner, D.T. (2009) Changes to daylight
saving time cuts into sleep and increases work place injuries. Journal
of Applied Psychology, (94)5, 1305-1317.
Retrieved on March 14, 2018 from http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/apl9451317.pdf
CBC News. (March 10, 2018). Some
interesting facts about daylight time.
CBC News Technology & Science.
Retrieved on March 16, 2018 from http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/daylight-saving-time-1.4567430
CBC News. (March 10, 2018). Daylight saving time begins in B.C. at 3 a.m. Sunday. CBC News British Columbia. Retrieved on March 16, 2018 from http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/switch-to-daylight-savings-time-march-2018-1.4571365
Choi, C.Q. (March 1, 2009).
Does daylight saving time conserve
energy?. Scientific American. Retrieved on March 16, 2018 from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/does-daylight-saving-times-save-energy/
McElroy, J. (March 9, 2017). B.C. government not springing forward on abolishing Daylight Saving
Time. Retrieved on March 12, 2018
from http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/daylight-savings-time-government-nope-1.4570546
Powers, L. (March 12, 2016). Daylight
saving time 2016: How big business benefits from more sunshine. CBC News
Business. Retrieved on March 16, 2018 from http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/daylight-saving-business-energy-1.3485281
Reese, M. (1932). A study of
the effect of daylight saving time upon the sleep of young children. Child
Development, 3(1), 86.
Retrieved on March 12, 2018 from https://libsecure.camosun.bc.ca:2443/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=tfh&AN=8539503&site=eds-live
Stromberg, J. (November
1, 2015). It’s time to make daylight saving time year-round. Vox.
Retrieved on March 16, 2018 from https://www.vox.com/2015/11/1/9640018/daylight-saving-time-year-round
Time and Date. Daylight saving time statistics. Retrieved on March 16, 2018 from https://www.timeanddate.com/time/dst/statistics.html
Time and Date. The never
ending DST debate. Time and Date. Retrieved on March 16, 2018 from https://www.timeanddate.com/time/dst/daylight-saving-debate.html
