Get with the times - observing daylight saving time is so yesterday

It’s that time of year again when we run about the house frantically changing all the clocks to match the new order imposed by daylight saving time (DST).

While the fall incarnation of the phenomenon gives us a welcome extra hour of sleep, the counterbalance – the spring-ahead portion – has been scientifically proven to wreak havoc with our circadian rhythms. It results in an increase in motor vehicle accidents; there’s a correlation with an increase in the prevalence of heart attacks, and there’s the inevitable reduction in work productivity caused by everyone simultaneously suffering from simulated jet lag.

Along with these repercussions, the global nature of business must also be considered. Many countries, particularly those close to the equator and most of Asia, don’t subscribe to the DST regime. That results in a recalibration of international commerce according to the clock twice a year. Is Taipei having lunch when we’re approaching midnight or are they in the grip of the afternoon’s postprandial dip? Any computer can sort out the time difference, but adherence to DST in Canada means we’ll always have to check before making that international call.

There’s lots of folk wisdom on why daylight saving is beneficial and perhaps even more on why it was adopted in the first place. Among our farming and fishing forebears, the explanation was often found in the need to work on the land or water while the sun was in the sky, rather than in the darkness of a winter morning. Another popular explanation for the adoption of the time shift is the need for energy conservation: make hay, or widgets, while the sun shines, metaphorically speaking. Many countries never adopted DST and some that did no longer follow the practice. Currently, DST-observant countries are in the minority. Those that do have some regions that opt out of the scheme, which adds to the confusion and disruption.

This year, Finnish citizens petitioned to have their government scrap the practice and action has been recommended by a parliamentary committee. Other EU states are also considering abolishing DST. If the movement spreads across Europe, DST will soon be as outdated as the imperial system of measurement. As any Canuck visiting the U.S. can tell you, living by the lights of an old regime is confusing, and conversion is a bother, to say the least.

Canadians should join the inevitable shift to the abolition of DST. It’s only holding us back. Given the shift in the economy to service and technological careers, globalization and DST’s scientifically proven harms, we need to reconsider our biannual time-travelling escapades.

While we are all thinking more clearly due to the extra hour of sleep this fall, we should urge government to save us from the folly of spring by abolishing DST now. Sleep experiments are meant to be done in a lab, not in a nation, with people as guinea pigs. DST is past its prime. It’s time to turn out the lights on this outdated idea, and let us all get a good night’s sleep, every night of the year.