DST

Time Travel Is Real – It Happens Every Spring and Fall!

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Hello everyone, Winnie Griggs here. As you all no doubt already know, Daylight Savings Time kicked back in for most of us here in the U.S. yesterday so I thought I’d focus on that today. I’ve actually blogged about it before, discussing the history and trivia (you can see the post HERE).

Today I’m going to discuss Daylight Savings Time with a bit of a different twist. Twice a year, millions of people become time travelers—no DeLorean or TARDIS necessary, just the simple (yet strangely chaotic) shift into Daylight Saving Time. One minute it’s 1:59 AM, and the next, it’s 3:00 AM. Or, if you live in Arizona or Hawaii, it’s… just another normal night.

DST is more than just a simple clock adjustment though. It’s emotional jet lag, a productivity thief, and a reminder that time isn’t as fixed as we like to think it is. And if you’ve ever felt weirdly out of sync after the time change, you’re not alone—your brain is still catching up.

Why does losing an hour feel so weird? When we fly across time zones, we expect jet lag. But DST tricks us into thinking we should adjust instantly—after all, it’s just an hour! Yet, research shows our bodies aren’t easily fooled. Sleep patterns get disrupted, focus drifts, and studies even show an increase in workplace mistakes and cranky moods – so if you’re feeling extra irritable today, you have an excuse.

Then there’s the global time-travel confusion. The U.S. changes clocks before Europe does. Not to mention that there are some countries that abandoned “springing forward” altogether. In a world of digital meetings and international calls, this means that for a few weeks, people in different countries experience a bizarre limbo where time zones don’t quite line up as expected. If you’ve ever missed a Zoom call in March because someone got the conversion wrong, you know the struggle.

As a rule, our minds are fascinated by the concept of time—there’s a reason time travel stories are so popular. But we’re also terrible at handling personal disruptions to it. Psychologists say it’s because we don’t perceive time in a strict, linear way; instead, we experience it based on our routine and memory. So, when DST throws that off, it feels like an alternate timeline where nothing is quite right—our alarms feel too early, the sun sets at the “wrong” time, and our productivity takes a hit.

And if you live in Arizona or Hawaii, watching the rest of the country scramble around time changes must feel like sitting outside a sci-fi movie, completely unaffected while everyone else stumbles through a time loop.

But instead of dreading the time change, what if we reframed it? For those who do observe DST, it’s one of the only moments when an entire society experiences a shift in time together. And for those who don’t? Well, they get to watch the rest of us struggle.

Either way, DST is proof that time isn’t as rigid as we assume. If it can be altered, stretched, or manipulated, maybe we have more control over our perception of time than we think we do. So, as we “spring forward,” give yourself grace, be patient with your groggy brain, and if you accidentally show up early or late for something this week, just tell everyone you’re a time traveler.

So do you have trouble adjusting to the ‘time change’ or do you reacclimate quickly? Do you have stories of missing appointments or schedules because of forgetting to take the time change into account?

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Daylight Saving Time Trivia

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Hello everyone, Winnie Griggs here. This past weekend most of us here in the United States experienced the ‘spring forward’ that hails the beginning of daylight saving time. In honor of that event I thought I’d share a little bit of trivia associated with the event.

 

  • Though often credited as the inventor of DST, Benjamin did not seriously propose its implementation. It was actually a tongue-in-cheek proposal as part of a satirical essay he wrote that was published in Paris where he was living at the time. The true person behind the drive to implement DST was George Hudson a British-born New Zealand entomologist who did shift work and wanted more after hours daylight time to collect insects. He first made a formal proposal on the subject in 1893 to the Wellington Philosophical Society.
  • Many people believe DST was implemented primarily to benefit agricultural interests. This is not only untrue, but the agricultural industry actively opposed DST when it was implemented in the US. They’re thinking is that livestock and crops don’t care what manmade clocks say, they pay attention to their own internal clocks and implementing time changes can actually be disruptive. For instance cows expect to be milked at the same time every day regardless of what time the clock displays.
  • The first country to adopt DST was Germany. They officially adopted it in 1916 as a way to conserve coal during WWI.
  • In the US individual states have the power to decide whether or not to observe DST. Hawaii and the majority of Arizona do not. Prior to 2006 Indiana also did not.
  • DST has been shown to have both negative and positive effects.

    Negative:

    • According to some studies DST can lead to an increase in traffic accidents due to people’s systems not adjusting quickly to the new time.
    • Other studies have found an increase in heart attacks and strokes following the time change which can tie to increased stress levels and a heightened risk of depression because of the disruption of circadian rhythms.

  Positive:

    • The extra hour of daylight during prime evening time is credited with a decrease in energy usage. HOWEVER, recent studies have shown that these benefits may not be as great as previously thought and may in fact have an actual negative impact. That extra hour will only lead to a decrease in energy usage if we go outside to take advantage of the extra hour of premium time sunlight.
    • DST is also credited with increased economic productivity during the later daylight hour.
    • Some studies show DST has a positive effect on health due to increased activity levels in the later daylight hour.
  • While most people say ‘daylight savings time’ the correct term is ‘daylight saving time’ (singular, not plural). And yes, it’s not capitalized. But the plural version has become so common in everyday usage that is has become acceptable as a conversational variant.

So what do you think? Did any of these bits of trivia surprise you? How do you feel about daylight saving time – a fan or not so much?
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