Daylight Savings… or Wastage?

May 10th marked the annual spring time change in which one hour of sleep was lost throughout all of America. Though the daylight savings time was an uplifting beginning of spring for some, for others, it was a complete nuisance. The idea of Daylight savings time was created by Benjamin Franklin in 1784, as a way to increase the use of daylight by man. Since then, it has been used as a way to preserve and utilize the light of day and wield it to mankind’s advantage. By moving the time one hour ahead at 2 am on May 10th, individuals get better use of daylight and it is ultimately preserving useful time in the long run. However, is this really necessary?

Though a one hour loss of sleep may seem insignificant, several studies have been created that thoroughly support and adequately explain the negative side effects of changing your sleep schedule. It has been scientifically studied and proven that an increase in heart attacks and strokes happens after the daylight savings has begun. Not only that, but a lack of focus at your job or school may also be caused by a rather unnecessary change in sleep. Therefore, one could argue that an extra hour of daylight fit perfectly into our time periods isn’t really worth the confusion and sleep deprivation. It only pushes time back one hour, which is rarely helpful. Not only that, but time itself cannot change. Just because as a society, the literal man-made representation of time is being changed, does not at all actually change the earth natural clock. Furthermore, there are several countries which do not participate in daylight savings, or seasonal time changes in general. It is not necessary to our survival, so we should not feel like we must culturally participate in it.

There is no denying that the notion of Daylight Savings is comprehensible and somewhat helpful in the long run, but losing an hour of sleep to push back time for only a matter of months is slightly pointless and ludicrous. As human beings, we crave for control and perfection and the topic of Daylight Savings only proves this point. Though Daylight Savings marks the beginning of spring break and the nice, warm weather, the literal point of this event is not mandatory as it is made to appear.