What Are We Saving Daylight For Or From?

by Liz Colville

Scientists are starting to agree with you and me about Daylight Savings and how it tortures us by making something good awesome and then turning around and making something bad miserable. There should, at the very least, be some sort of latitudinal ordinance that prevents people north of, I don’t know, 30º (being generous), from having to participate in this idiotic practice (in the fall). Scientists to the rescue!

Many experts agree that especially in northern climes, “the energy needed to brighten this darkness, and the limits it puts on outdoor activities are harming our health and the environment.” (The energy needed to brighten this darkness. Deep!) Mayer Hillman of England’s Policy Studies Institute conducted a study in which Scotland theoretically turned the clocks forward an hour in the fall and forward two hours in the summer. Amazing! This would give people 300 extra hours of sunlight a year, which would help end the Vitamin D deficiency observed in many humans. Also:

… research shows people feel happier, more energetic and have lower sickness rates in the longer, brighter days of summer, whereas moods and health decline during duller days of winter.

A doctor at Lenox Hill also observes in this Reuters article that people would be more motivated to exercise in winter if it wasn’t pitch black hours before they even got out of work. The energy savings under this plan would also be considerable. So … people with power? Can we do this?