I know I’m not the only one who takes a while to adjust to daylight savings time every single year. Every year the one hour deficit is brutal. This year I began to think more deeply about this.
Everyone complains about the time change. No one can reasonably explain how it came about and what the real reason behind it was/is. In fact, 75% of Americans would prefer to ditch the ridiculous act. (Cytowic, Richard E., MD, Why So Many People Hate Daylight Saving Time, Psychology Today, 3/8/2023.)
Let’s consider the history and then I will present my suggestion.
I didn’t even know this until I researched for this post. Daylight savings time was instituted in Germany in 1916 during WWI, and later adopted in the US. It was reinstitute during WWII. It is a wartime measure, meant to conserve energy! (McMillan, Alexx, Coloradan Alumni Magazine, 11/7/2022.)
The obvious fact is that it only shifts the light from the front end of the day to the latter. This may have made sense in the past…maybe? But in today’s modern age, what exactly is the point?
“Biologically speaking, it is normal, and even critical, for nature to do more during the brighter months and to do less during the darker ones…Like trees and flowers, we also need winter to rest and summer to bloom.” (Tollemar, Rachelle Wilson, Voices, Los Angeles Times, 10/29/2025; see also Jacobs, Phil, Does daylight saving time make sense? Scientists debate pros and cons, Science, 3/24/2025.)
One article referred to the effect of the time change as creating a “social jet lag” and it is well established that the result is sleep issues that are epidemic, and sleep issues lead to other health problems. This contributes to a negative effect on employees and product output in the economy. (Neumann, Philipp, et al., Sage Journals, 1/21/2025; see also Solan, Matthew, The dark side of daylight saving time, Harvard Health Publishing, 3/1/2023.)
So…it doesn’t really have a positive effect on energy use or economics, and it leaves a national (international!) sleep deficit, negatively affecting our health by disrupting our circadian rhythms. If it ever was useful, which cannot be proven, it certainly is not today, and should be jettisoned.
And now for my crazy conspiracy theory. I believe the intent is more than the oft-stated noble attempt to help farmers or save energy. I believe that the annual requirement, whatever the initial purpose, is now a device to disrupt and create chaos. Every year we are, for no reason, faced with a disruption that can take at least a week to adjust to. It prevents us from aligning with nature in a way that is gentle and progressive. Instead of waking to the birds chirping we awake to blackness yet our clock states the time as the same. Our brain cannot compute. If our pets are not getting it with all of their intuition, I think we should be reconsidering. I rest my case.
Notes From Real Life 