It’s that time of the year again when we shift the clocks one hour forward and when Daylight Savings Time begins.
This year this happens late overnight tonight, when 2 a.m. will instantly become 3 a.m. and although we will lose an hour of precious sleep time, the promise of getting an “extra” hour of daylight for the next few months makes it seem worth it.
In the United States, DST began being observed in 1918, and most states still follow this practice, although some areas of the country decided to go away with it.
Also, many countries in the world don’t change the clock at all or do it at a different time, which can create disruptions and challenges with international conference calls, travel, etc. For instance, Europe will move their clocks in two weeks on March 28, 2021.
But then, time zones are sometimes a weird thing to begin with. For example, China, which is so big it should ordinarily have 4 or even 5 different time zones, has only one official time zone – Beijing time, which is situated closed to its eastern seaboard. This means that when daylight breaks on the capital city at, say 7 a.m. it is also 7 a.m. on the clock in the country’s Western provinces, although it is still very dark outside (the equivalent of 2 or 3 o’clock).
And while the practice of daylight savings is rooted in an attempt to save energy, our modern 24/7 world casts doubt on whether this is any longer the case. Meanwhile researchers have suggested that the twice-a-year practice of moving the clocks back and forth is associated with numerous health risks while our bodies adjust ranging from car accidents to heart attacks, depression, cancer, obesity , heart attack and even cancer.
Calls for abolishing this practice have been popping up from time to time but have largely been left on the back burner by both state and federal lawmakers.
