- Mar 11, 2019

The Dangers of Daylight Savings

It's that time of year again.

Twice a year we adhere to the practice of turning our clocks ahead an hour in spring and an hour behind in the fall. Why? "Daylight time was first enacted in Germany in 1915, then quickly adopted by Britain and much of Europe and Canada.

Because the sun shone for a time while most people were still asleep in the morning, it was reasoned that light could be better used during the day.

The solution was to push the clocks ahead one hour in springtime, forcing people to wake an hour earlier. They would therefore expend less energy trying to light their homes, for instance, if time were adjusted to suit their daily patterns.

When the days started getting shorter in the fall and people awoke to increasing darkness, the clocks were turned back an hour to get more light in the morning." -Springing forward, falling back: the history of time change https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/springing-forward-falling-back-the-history-of-time-change-1.755925

Turns out, it's quite harmful.

There's an increase in mood and memory issues, workplace injuries and car crashes. There is even more risk of stroke and heart attacks due to Daylight Savings Time. -5 ways daylight saving time messes with your health -- and what to do about it https://www.cbsnews.com/news/daylight-saving-time-affects-your-health-wellness/

For jobs and school, people would have been and are today, beholden to whatever time is agreed upon by the majority of society, understandably so. The freedom of Freeschoolin' has taught our family about thinking and living outside the box.

If one makes their own hours for working and learning, Daylight Savings becomes obsolete.

Farming is done when the sun is up and dependent on other factors like weather and insect population, not the time. Students can't be late for learning from life and Night Shifts aren't even factored into the Daylight Savings "solution" which is common in many homes and growing. Daylight Savings doesn't really affect our family the way it used to now that we chart our own schedule, but we remember having to follow it, and we observe how others are unable to avoid it and dislike it intensely. We're so glad we discovered that life doesn't have to be lived the way everyone else does. If we don't like it, we can change it!