Like many Americans, you probably spent at least a few minutes on Sunday trying to remember how to change the clock on your microwave and stove. Or at least had an internal conversation with yourself about the pros and cons of just leaving them the way they are for the next several months. Either way, this weekend is, we’re guessing, the least favorite of the year as we travel through time an hour forward and spring forward.On Sunday, most of America entered Daylight Savings Time. DST has a complicating history going back to World War I, then was observed sporadically before Lyndon B. Johnson signed an act in 1966. In the 1980’s President Ronald Reagan made a few more tweaks (his signed law is why the change occurs at 2 a.m.) before George W. Bush in 2005 moved the time change back from April to March, as it’s currently observed. The positives of this weekend mean we gain an hour of sunlight in the evening. The negatives? For most, losing an hour of sleep is bad enough. But it goes deeper than that.Studies show a variety of bad things that happen in correlation to Daylight Savings Time. Hospitals report heart attack visits increase by 24 percent the Monday after the time change (and rates fall 21 percent the Monday when we turn the clocks back and gain an hour of sleep in November). In 1999, Johns Hopkins University and Stanford researchers looked at highway travel data and found a significant increase in roadway deaths the Monday after clocks move forward an hour compared to a normal Monday. Other Canadian scientists found an increase in traffic accidents. So is it worth it?Studies also show crime decreases with the added sunlight, while time spent exercising increases. Hawaii and Arizona don’t observe DST since their geographic location nearer the equator means the sun rises and sets around the same time every day regardless of season. About half of the other U.S. states, including Pennsylvania (let’s hope!) and California, are angling to do away with DST. The Los Angeles Times’ editorial board even took to its pages on Sunday, arguing “There’s just no good reason to keep skipping back and forth in time every year.” The Watch Doctor, for one, agrees.
Mark Sirianni Watch Repair
25 Fraley St.
Kane, PA. 16735
814-837-9435
814-558-4818 cell