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Subscribe to RSSDaylight saving time ends on Sunday, which means there are a few of us asking ourselves, as we do biannually: "It's spring ahead, fall back, right?" and "Which one is the good one?" We're happy to remind our dear readers that a) it's "fall back" (duh) and b) this is the good one.
We'll get an extra hour of sleep Sunday morning, and we'll all enjoy lighter, brighter mornings. That also means longer, darker evenings.
Your body doesn't know it yet, but this is going to be awesome.
"Light is the most important timekeeper that signals to our bodies when we're supposed to be awake, so when are clocks are more in sync with the sun, it makes it easier," explains Dr. Anita Shelgikar, a University of Michigan neurologist. "It's certainly easier to adjust than it is in the spring."
Waking up when it's still dark for hours confuses your brain: You're up and going about your morning routine -- but your body and brain think you should still be sleeping. "That's why it's particularly important to expose your eyes to light first thing," Shelgikar says. If you'll still be rising before it's light out after we turn our clocks back, she advises to turn on the lights right after waking up -- don't tiptoe around your house in the dark!
But because we're "falling back" this weekend, some of us will be tempted to stay up and play for an extra hour on Saturday night. That's not a great idea, Shelgikar says. The important thing is still to stick to a routine -- a preset bedtime and wake time to avoid any sleep deprivation, she explains.
Are you looking forward to turning the clocks back? Leave a comment telling us why -- or why not.
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Leave a Comment:
"Falling back" is great. "Springing forward" is a whole other thing, and usually takes me a couple of weeks to get back on track.
You and me both. I love the fall time change and hate the spring time change. In the spring, it takes me ages to get used to the change.
I also agree with the article in that it's not time to be awake until the sun comes up. I want to sleep in much longer in the winter than I do the summer.
I prefer daylight savings time. Who really cares about going to work in the dark. I would think that most people would much rather have that hour of daylight in the evening after work than in the morning when they are stuck inside at work anyway. With the shift away from daylight savings time many people end up heading to work in the dark (or maybe shortly after sunrise) and driving home in the dark, never getting any real time outside in daylight during the week. I much prefer having it lighter into the evening than in the morning.
I wish we'd just stay on daylight saving time. I use the extra hour of daylight in the summer - I'm working on a big landscaping project, and it's going to slow things down bigtime now that I won't be able to get out there after work. I sleep with dark curtains drawn, so the whole body-clock thing matters not at all to me.
And I think it's depressing to leave work after dark. Makes it feel like I spend my whole life at my job.
Makes no difference at all to me. I have non-24-hour sleep-wake syndrome and my light doesn't have any real affect on my sleep patterns anyway. The only difference is with other people that are thrown a tiny bit further into and out of synch with my 30 hour (on average) circadian clock.
I hate leaving work and finding it's already dark. It wouldn't be so bad if there was better lighting and people would bother to turn on their headlights.
During the winter months, it's dark sooooooo early that I started getting depressed even before I leave work. We should leave the time on Daylight Savings Time and forget about the backward and forward thing. Makes no sense to me. The winter months are almost unbearable at times; really. It's dark when I drive to work and dark when I leave work. May as well live in some Nordic Climate above the Arctic Circle. We sometimes have dinner at 4:30 in the month of January. Then, it's dark for five hours before we go to bed. I really HATE it.
I hate the goddamn time change. Give us an hour. Take the hour away. What the hell is this about? Soon they'll be wanting to add an extra day to the year, and I'll bet it'll be another goddamn cold winter day, then take it away in the mildest part of summer. Always screwing with us. Goddamn aggravating bastards. What gives them the right anyway?
Well now Mac, I take it you don't like the change? Could have done without the GDing, but oh well..
delayne16: Aye gwad Sir/Madam. I wrote it and can't believe no one yet caught it. Sorry if I offended you with my profanity. Please though, don't begrudge me my profanity. I consider myself a "connoisseur " of quality profanity. It is one of the few things I know well. Was mentored by my father, who was quite accomplished in that area of expertise and a damn fine "Baptist" preacher. Regards
I can't wait until the clocks get turned back. I live near the western edge of Central time and it's still pitch dark at 7 am. Ugh.
Daylight Savings Time makes absolutely no sense here in Alaska. I wish our leaders would get smart and abolish it.
So many people get "jet lag" from going on and off of daylight savings because the body is protesting this disruption in its natural rhythm.
We are so out of touch with Nature! What's wrong with allowing your body to follow its natural circadian rhythm, controlled by the sun and the seasons? If you want to get up an hour earlier or later, no one is stopping you.
Why do boosters of daylight savings time feel the need to force everyone onto it? We are so controlled by the clock! One of my teachers told me that one of the first things that common people did during the French Revolution was break all the clocks. Sounds good to me. I haven't work a watch in years.
Well...they built a weird arse decimal clock. What time is it? Oh, it's...6.43.
If I follow my natural circadian rhythm, my boss will fire my circadian arse.
I remember reading that daylight savings time was created for (at least one reason), the safety of school children getting on buses and going to school in the morning. It was felt, and rightly so, that it was dangerous for kids to be around moving vehicles in the dark.
But other than that reason, I agree, I think we should just leave the clocks alone and keep it "au naturel".
Every time we have to jack with our clocks I attempt to find a logical, cohesive argument for changing the time. I'm still looking for a convincing reason to "change" time. Statistics show that, for several days after we change the time, traffic fatalities increase due to the jet lag effect. No big deal it's sombody else's life. Days are longer in the Summer and shorter in the Winter. Oh yeah, I just remembered about all of the energy we save because there's more light in the morning so we don't have to turn on the lights but then in the evening........How does that argument go?
Leee1102
When DST started, there were no school buses.
No, I hate the darker evenings! I am a night owl who starts work in the late mornings, which means that suddenly my day is filled with darkness. It's seriously depressing.
I hate DST. It's an artifical construct to squeeze nature into man's schedule. I much prefer driving in the dark in the morning, when I'm much more awake, then in the dark after 9 hrs of work (when I'm tired, and chances are so are most of the drivers on the road). It's depressing to leave work during the day and have it be pitch black when it's only 5 PM, makes it feel like the day is done. I bet a grip of money is wasted messing with the clocks twice a year (with the inherent issues with changing times).
This sounds like you would actually favor year-round DST. That would be the only way that the sun would never set before 5 PM in the 48 states.
Amen, Jimmy.
It's just a bit more annoying to set back digital watches, microwave ovens, coffeemakers (important!) cars clocks (please not while driving!) and clocks that only set in one direction (forward) and make sure the AM/PM is correct while you're at it, especially if it's an alarm clock waking you up for work: 23 "taps" instead of just one for DST. While computers, cellphones, cable boxes, and game systems connected to the internet reset themselves, older game systems (like the PS2) and VCR's (even with clocks that reset to the old DST moveback date) have to be reset manually now too. You never really realize how many gadgets in the modern home have clocks in them except this twice-a-year exercise.
And don't forget to replace the batteries for the smoke alarms.
I don't worry about the smoke alarms because now I'll have an extra hour to get out of a burning house.
This reply is as silly and facetious as the time change.
That's a lot of whining in the above comments about time. Maybe go outside instead of typing this to lap up a few extra precious moments of daylight
How true! Take advantage of what's there. For the 'jet lag' in springtime, get out in the first morning light for 15 minutes. It's like a reset button. Works like a charm. The dark months of winter are the cozy months in our area. A nice crackling fire, cooking hearty meals, getting my indoor projects and reading done.
I really hate the time changes (forward and backward). If I am going to experience jetlag, I'd like a nice vacation to go along with it.
Why do we change times at all? We did not change times in Indiana for years. It was Great! So remind me why do we change time in this modern 24 hour world? Working the night shift when changing the time is the worst!
I'm pretty sure it had/has to do with the farmers and utilizing the daylight to work on the farms.
Farmers hate DST.
quit-cher-whining ffs. it has no bearing on the sun, daylight, or anything else. It is a very small inconvenience.
Been doing it since you were born and you should be used to it. Though I guess if you are gonna bitch about something time change may be better than oh say...lack of jobs, a government out of touch with reality, a country set on a course for disaster...yeah let's waste our time complaining about having to set our clocks twice a year...jesus.
I've long thought that "daylight savings time" was unnatural. Why must humans always mess with Mother Nature instead of keeping with her rhythms.
"Daylight savings time" has always bugged me too. It's daylight saving time - jeez, it's not a bank.
Good point about it not being a bank. What are we saving it for? And why can't it be darkness saving time?
Some of us enjoy sleeping.
I have to get up early 7 days a week, I love DST!
I really don't care what artificial number is assigned to the space/time position I occupy. Just pick one, and leave it alone!
The only thing I must argue about is the advice to jump up and turn on the lights. No thank you. I wake up at 5 am Monday through Friday. My husband flips on the news and the lights. It makes me want to put a bat through the TV and the lights (possibly hubby as well). I escape to the living room, brew my cup of coffee, use the under-cabinet lighting, and prefer a much slower, gentler introduction to a new day. Fall back is the best time change it's just a shame that it also necessitates spring forward...which isn't so much fun.
I live in Arizona and we don't change our clocks at all. It's one of the few things this state does right. I don't at all miss the DST changes from when I lived elsewhere. It always feels like the right time because we have gradual changes in the loss/gain of daylight. The rest of the country should demand to abolish DST. It's just silly.
Breezie, you're far enough south and west that the sun isn't as big a deal as it is in the northeastern part of the country, where we drive to work in the cold and the dark....
"Falling back" is a cruel joke to those of us who work night shift. I get off work at 0730 and drive home towards the sun. The last thing I need is more glaring sunlight when I'm planning to sleep once I'm home. It seriously messes with the melatonin production. I generally sleep from 0900-1700, so I will wake up when it's dark.
It makes a person feel like crap on a stick after awhile.
I know what you mean. I had to do that for 2 years working security.
I think part of the reasoning is that schoolchildren won't have to wait for the bus in the dark. I live in the eastern time zone and they have to do that now.