Time Change

On March 4th I missed telling you about National Grammar Day. It was also National Pound Cake Day, I missed that too. Determined to enlighten you about these extra special days I decided to check this morning for others.

Today is Check Your Batteries Day, Donald Duck Day, Earmuff Day, Ken (the doll) Day, National Jewel Day and Open an Umbrella Indoors Day.

Why not have a Change Your Socks and Underpants Day?

The only day I care about today is Daylight Savings Time Day. I'm out of sync. This time change is almost more than I can handle.

My biological clock is off. I don't care what this clock says, it's an hour earlier. The extra hour of sunlight helps conserve energy they say. Arizona doesn't do it, neither does Hawaii or American Samoa, Guam, or Puerto Rico. Northern Marianas and the Virgin Islands don't change their clocks either. So, why do we do it twice a year?

Statistics to support the time change include a reduction in traffic accidents and crime rates. "People travel to and from school and work and complete errands during the daylight rather than night, when more crime occurs," according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.  

We conserve energy have fewer accidents and impede crime, all good things. Now consider this. It's only one hour but the time shift and stress caused by the time changes can be bad for the body. A 2008 article in the New England Journal of Medicine reported the number of heart attacks jump during the period immediately following time changes, and those vulnerable to sleep deprivation should be extra careful. 

"These transitions can disrupt chronobiologic (fancy word) rhythms and influence the duration and quality of sleep, and the effect lasts for several days after the shift."

Changing the clocks is not healthy and it can be very difficult. I could pack and move to Arizona or Hawaii or even the Northern Marianas, wherever they are. But it would be a lot easier if daylight savings time didn't happen. We change the clocks twice a year. Leave us alone already. Getting through the day is tough enough. I don't need to think about eating lunch at noon, when it's really eleven, or is it?

Twice a year I have to reset my circadian rhythm. As I age it gets more difficult. We officially change the clocks at 2 a.m. and have one day to get ready for the work week. I don't go to work but still, Monday is supposed to be more productive than my Sunday.

There are twenty devices that display the time in this house. Some change automatically while others do not.

Last night we reset thirteen of them to Daylight Savings Time. After ten years of owning it I still don't know how to change the clock on the home alarm keypad. It's correct half the year. I try not to get confused when I walk down the hall and pass the alarm then the correct clock on the thermostat two feet away. I lose an hour going north and gain an hour heading south.

Now I am faced with some very difficult decisions. Should I eat when the clock says it is meal time or wait until my stomach indicated it wanted food. Bedtime is another issue. I usually go to sleep around midnight and get up at seven. What if I'm not tired at midnight when its really only eleven? I woke at seven this morning but it was eight.

The majority of us dislike the time change. There are several pages on Facebook devoted to the disruption. Twice a year people look them up and complain. I found a petition this morning. Once it has 100,000 signatures it will be sent to the White House. So far it has seven. Not seven thousand, not seven hundred.....seven.

I get it; some people do not want their names on a petition.

STOP THE TIME CHANGE!

But only seven? Maybe it's easier to complain and adapt then instigate change.

This fall, I'm going to protest. I'm not going to change my clocks, socks or underpants.