Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Just in case you don't already hate DST as much as you should

Unhealthy time change:
Although daylight-saving time was sold politically as an energy-conservation measure, it does no such thing. Studies conducted in Indiana prior to 2006, when that state operated under three different time regimes, show either no difference in energy consumption or a small increase in power usage during the months after clocks were moved one hour ahead.

The annual ritual of springing forward and falling back thus possibly produces no energy savings and may be counterproductive. It also requires those who live in places where daylight-saving time is observed to waste time twice a year adjusting their clocks and watches.

Yet the costs of switching between daylight-saving and standard time go far beyond the hassles of "losing" an hour in the springtime and "gaining" it back in the fall.

I am not a doctor and I do not play one on TV, but the medical profession - as Dr. Osvaldo Bustos of George Washington University's School of Medicine pointed out to me recently - has known for years that shifting time forward or backward has negative, and possibly deadly, health consequences.
Read it all for full details.

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