Like Clockwork

It’s back, whether you like it or not: daylight savings time. As someone who loves long summer days, I always enjoyed the extra hour of daylight. As a worker bee, I hated it. We fool ourselves by adjusting to clocks and watches, but the body clock is not duped by this charade, and the resulting chaos can last weeks.

So, who hatched the dubious idea of daylight savings time? Turns out to be a Brit-cum-New Zealander, an entomologist who fancied having more daytime hours to study insects. Daylight savings time has generated controversy from the beginning. Only North American and Western European countries actually observe the practice.

With the exception of New Zealand (surprised?), and parts of one province each in Australia and Brazil, only a minority of the world’s population observes the practice. Even Russians said “nyet” Perceived advantages, besides the extra hour of daylight, included energy savings, reduced crime and longer business hours.

Disadvantages include a compromised “circadian rhythm” (body clock). Some take weeks of adjustment. Not good. For more on the subject of time, read GonzoPR’s most popular post in 2018. Fact is, there is no such thing as universal time. The nature of time lies within, and is unique to  every human who has ever lived.