Which is better: Standard, Daylight Saving or Sunshine time? đâď¸
Welcome back to âStandardâ time đ
Do you know why Daylight saving time got started in the United States?
Nope, not to help farmers, as many people think.
So whatâs the deal? Should we keep swapping an hour in the Spring and Fall? Do our efforts save energy? And, whatâs the âSunshine Actâ that hasnât been passed in Washington yet? Take a few minutes and find out âď¸
Before we get started, if you missed last weekâs newsletter on, âAnxiety, Fear & đą Horror đąâ, you can use this link, Here. I hope everyone had a great Halloween đ đť
And donât forget to sign up for our Thanksgiving Cooking Class:
OK, letâs get up to speed on whether we should support our Daylight-saving Time ritual âď¸đđ§
Does Daylight Saving Time Save Energy?
In theory, the âspring forwardâ and âfall backâ for Daylight Saving Time can reduce demand for evening lighting. Even Ben Franklin thought so.
For over 100 years, the US and other countries have been toying with time - moving the clocks forward an hour each spring to accommodate Daylight Saving Time, before setting them back again each fall. And for decades, politicians have been pushing to end the practice.
This spring, the âSunshine Protection Act,â which would do away with the âstandard timeâ in favor of making Daylight Saving Time permanent was re-introduced. For those in NJ, that would mean sunrise around 8:20 a.m. and sunset around 5:30 p.m. on the shortest winter days. The Senate unanimously passed the bill last year, but it faltered after the House of Representatives failed to take it up.
The Sunshine Act lists a number of reasons for âlocking the clockâ, among them economic benefits, less stress, and a potential reduction in car crashes and seasonal depression. Some site one more motivation: âBrighter skies in the winter evenings will help keep the light switch turned off and cast rays of sunshine and warmth into homes and onto Main Streets of every community in our country.â
The notion of keeping the lights off for longer has always been linked with (DST) Daylight Saving Time. Benjamin Franklin is credited with first proposing changing the clocks in the 1700âs as a way to conserve candles. During World War I, the US and dozens of other countries enacted the policy as a wartime measure to conserve energy. By the end of the century, it was routine.
But more recently, research has emerged to challenge DST. Itâs often taken on faith that it actually saves energy; in the last 10-15 years, a few studies have questioned whether or not that is true.
A study was done using Daylight Saving Time in Indiana from 2004 to 2006. Researchers found that the time change increased residential electricity usage as much as 1%. As in previous studies, the report found less demand for lighting at night, but electricity demand caused by heating (during cooler mornings) and cooling (during hotter evenings) more than offset those savings.
If you look at the results from Indiana and how they would apply to the country as a whole, it would suggest that Daylight Saving Time is not a pro-environmental policy from an energy perspective.
When it comes to our Health, standard time wins đ
Yes, we do get an extra hour of sunlight in the evening with daylight saving time (DST) which can mean a brighter commute home in the evening. But when it comes to health, standard time is a much better option.
From a circadian rhythm standpoint, using standard time would be optimal. If we stayed on daylight saving time, we would be in permanent jet-lag.
Standard time means more light in the morning and earlier darkness at night, so itâs more aligned with our internal clocks that follow the rising and setting of the sun. Itâs easier to fall asleep when itâs dark outside and wake up when itâs light. This is important because the bodyâs sleep and wake cycle impacts all biological processes including appetite, insulin secretion, bowel movements, temperature, mood and more.
Whether the body would adjust, itâs hard to say because weâve never stayed on it permanently. But the limited amount of research we have shows itâs better from a sleep standpoint for us to stay on standard time.
The biggest health benefit, however, would come from stopping the seasonal time change. Studies have shown the change to daylight saving time has resulted in more cardiovascular events, strokes and accidents.
The scientific literature strongly argues against the switching between DST and Standard Time, and even more so against adopting DST permanently as proposed in the âSunshine Actâ.
To read the latest research and more detail, use this link to access the PubMed review: Here
What can you do to make the time change easier?
It usually takes five to seven days for your body to adjust to the time change. Hereâs some tips to make the process easier:
Transition gradually. When youâre falling back, get up at your regular time, but try going to bed a little earlier, maybe 10â15 minutes, to compensate. When you spring forward, go to sleep 15 minutes early for a couple of days leading up to the time change, then 30 minutes early for a couple of days.
Avoid consuming extra caffeine. You might be able to fall asleep, but too much caffeine can impact your ability to get good quality sleep.
Avoid naps. Taking a nap will detract from your drive to want to fall asleep.
But isnât it healthy to take naps?
A short nap is okay, but anything longer than 30 or 45 minutes can interfere with your overall circadian rhythm, making it harder to fall asleep later.
How much how sleep should people be getting?
Many of us are sleep deprived, including children. Hereâs the breakdown of how much sleep, on average, is recommended by age:
Adults 18 to 66: 8â9 hours of sleep.
People over age 65: 7â8 hours of sleep
Younger kids: 9â10 hours of sleep
Teens: 8â10 hours of sleep
Below is some interesting information on Heart Rate and how it effects sleep.
Why Heart Rate Variability Matters for Sleep
You might be familiar with heart rate variability (HRV) as a popular training tool for workouts and a biomarker for measuring exercise recovery. Beyond exercise tracking, heart rate variability has a lot to tell us about the underlying health of our nervous system and our risk for disease. And thereâs an important two-way relationship between HRV and sleep thatâs often overlooked.
Heart rate variability (HRV) measures the variations in time between heartbeats and can have a lot to say about our general health.
There is also a two-way relationship between our heart rate variability and sleep.
A lower HRV can indicate that the body is stuck in fight-or-flight mode and unable to access the parasympathetic nervous system to calm down.
Using a Fitbit or Biostrap bracelet to measure your HRV is an excellent way to determine how your body recovers, your sleep, and what your day & night nervous system responses look like.
Remember, we pass through the stages of non-REM sleep and REM sleep in every sleep cycle. And a typical 7-hour night of sleep contains between 4-5 sleep cycles. That gives you a sense of how complex and dynamic nervous system activity is during sleep, with heart rate and heart rate variability continually shifting. It also demonstrates how important the flexibility and responsiveness of our nervous system is to a night of healthy sleep; and how restless and short sleep can throw our nervous system out of balance.
That imbalance is what occurs alongside disrupted, unrefreshing sleep and sleep disorders. And itâs not only an imbalance that occurs at night. Disordered sleep contributes to an imbalance in the autonomic nervous system and hyperactivity of the sympathetic nervous system throughout the 24-hour day.
To read more on HRV use this link, Here.
THE BOTTOM LINE
âThe end of daylight savings time: a week of waking up early because kids and pets canât tell time.â
âDonât forget to adjust all the clocks you never look at because you have a phone!â
Some good news? There are a few places you can go that you wouldnât need to worry about Daylight Saving time!
Not everyone in the United States springs forward and falls back.
Hawaii and Arizona - with the exception of the stateâs Navajo Nation - donât observe daylight saving time, and the US territories of American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands also remain on standard time year-round. Plus, some Amish communities also choose not to participate in daylight saving time.
Did you know that around the world, only about one-quarter of the worldâs population, in approximately 70 countries, observe daylight saving? Since their daylight hours donât vary much from season to season, countries closer to the equator have little need to deviate from standard time.
I hope todayâs blog shed some light on Daylight Saving time, best practices for making DST easier, and why your Heart Rate Variability (HRV) matters for sleep.
In the mean time, donât forget to:
Contact your representatives and tell them you donât want Washington to pass the âSunshine Actâ; and that you want to stay on Standard Time!
If you need help with navigating any of the information presented today, make a point to come see me so that I can help you!
To make an appointment with me use this link: HERE
Or, you can give me a call at (973) 210-3838
I want to hear from you! What challenges do experience with Daylight Saving Time or Sleep? Did you find this newsletter helpful?
Share your thoughts in the comments on our
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