Wednesday, October 30

Tag: saving

If Congress Makes Daylight Saving Time Permanent – 5 Ways Americans’ Lives Will Change
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HEALTH & WELLNESS

If Congress Makes Daylight Saving Time Permanent – 5 Ways Americans’ Lives Will Change

The U.S. Senate approved the Sunshine Protection Act in March 2022, with the goal of making daylight saving time permanent starting in November 2023. If that happens, the U.S. will never again “spring forward” or “fall back.” Following the Senate’s vote and a recent hearing in the House Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce – at which I testified – the subcommittee is now considering the issue. The full House of Representatives will need to vote in support of permanent DST before the bill goes to President Biden’s desk for his signature. In my research on DST, I have found that Americans don’t like Congress messing with their clocks. However, the move to DST year-round makes a lot of sense. In an effort to avoid the biannual time change in spring and fall, some DST critics ha...
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Daylight Saving Time Starts – 11 Things You Can Do To Adjust To Losing That Hour Of Sleep
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HEALTH & WELLNESS

Daylight Saving Time Starts – 11 Things You Can Do To Adjust To Losing That Hour Of Sleep

As clocks march ahead and daylight saving time begins, there can be anxiety around losing an hour of sleep and how to adjust to this change. Usually an hour seems like an insignificant amount of time, but even this minimal loss can cause problems. There can be significant health repercussions of this forcible shift in the body clock. Springing forward is usually harder that falling backward. Why? The natural internal body clock rhythm in people tends to be slightly longer than 24 hours, which means that every day we tend to delay our sleep schedules. Thus, “springing forward” goes against the body’s natural rhythm. It is similar to a mild case of jet lag caused by traveling east – in which you lose time and have trouble falling asleep at an earlier hour that night. Even though it’s tec...
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A Neurologist Explains – Why Daylight Saving Time Is Unhealthy
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HEALTH & WELLNESS

A Neurologist Explains – Why Daylight Saving Time Is Unhealthy

As people in the U.S. prepare to turn their clocks ahead one hour in mid-March, I find myself bracing for the annual ritual of media stories about the disruptions to daily routines caused by switching from standard time to daylight saving time. About a third of Americans say they don’t look forward to these twice-yearly time changes. An overwhelming 63% to 16% majority would like to eliminate them completely. But the effects go beyond simple inconvenience. Researchers are discovering that “springing ahead” each March is connected with serious negative health effects. I’m a professor of neurology and pediatrics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, and the director of our sleep division. In a 2020 commentary for the journal JAMA Neurology, my co-authors and I r...
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HEALTH & WELLNESS

COVID-19 Sleep Loss – Daylight Saving Time Could Be Especially Hard This Weekend

The clock springs forward one hour on Sunday morning, March 14 for most people in the U.S. That is not an appealing thought for those who have suffered sleep problems because of the pandemic. Sleep this past year has been affected by a variety of factors, including anxiety, inconsistent schedules and increased screen time. This affects our health, as getting adequate sleep is important to assure our immune system can fend off and fight infections. Even before the pandemic, about 40% of adults – 50 to 70 million Americans – got less than the recommended minimum seven hours per night. And, many researchers were already concerned about how the twice-a-year switch affects our body’s physiology. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the largest scientific organization that studies sleep, i...
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It’s Time To Ditch Daylight Saving Time According To Sleep Experts
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HEALTH & WELLNESS

It’s Time To Ditch Daylight Saving Time According To Sleep Experts

For most of the U.S., the clock goes back one hour on Sunday morning, Nov. 1, the “fall back” for daylight saving time. Many of us appreciate the extra hour of sleep. But for millions, that gain won’t counter the inadequate sleep they get the rest of the year. About 40% of adults – 50 to 70 million Americans – get less than the recommended minimum seven hours per night. Some researchers are concerned about how the twice-a-year switch impacts our body’s physiology. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the largest scientific organization that studies sleep, now wants to replace daylight saving time with a move to a year-round fixed time. That way, our internal circadian clocks would not be misaligned for half the year. And it would eliminate the safety risk from sleep loss when transiti...
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5 ways life would be better if it were always daylight saving time
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LIFESTYLE, VIDEO REELS

5 ways life would be better if it were always daylight saving time

In my research on daylight saving time, I have found that Americans don’t like it when Congress messes with their clocks. In an effort to avoid the biannual clock switch in spring and fall, some well-intended critics of DST have made the mistake of suggesting that the abolition of DST – and a return to permanent standard time – would benefit society. In other words, the U.S. would never “spring forward” or “fall back.” They are wrong. DST saves lives and energy and prevents crime. Not surprisingly, then, politicians in Washington and Florida have now passed laws aimed at moving their states to DST year-round. Congress should seize on this momentum to move the entire country to year-round DST. In other words, turn all clocks forward permanently. If it did so, I see five ways that America...
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10 time-saving tips to get important stuff done
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SELF

10 time-saving tips to get important stuff done

The irony of time management is that there is no time to address time management issues. “Waste neither time nor money, but make the best use of both” are wise words by Benjamin Franklin that still ring true today — perhaps even more so in this harried technologically advanced age. RescueTime.com editor Jory McKay pointed out that the irony of time management is that there is no time to address time management issues. However, never ending for many individuals is stress and concern that not enough time exists in a day to tackle necessary tasks. Peter Turla, a time management expert based in Flower Mound, Texas, said key advice is the old adage “Don’t sweat the small stuff,” or in his words: “Don’t spend dollar time on penny projects.” He encourages individuals to evaluate daily schedul...
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