What if, instead of having year-round standard time (which sucks in the summer), year-round daylight savings time (which sucks in the winter), or dealing with a painful transition between them once a year, we split the difference: move the clocks forward a half-hour so peak daylight occurs at 12:30, and keep it that way year-round?
The transition from standard to daylight time makes people unhappy on the following day, especially if they are employed full-time, as a German study shows:
Kountouris, Y., & Remoundou, K. (2014). About time: daylight saving time transition and individual well-being. Economics Letters, 122(1), 100-103.
This brief period of societally-induced jet-lag has severe consequences for the unlucky, as roughly 200 Americans die of traffic accidents every year at the shift to DST due to sleep loss:
Coren, S. (1996). Accidental death and the shift to daylight savings time. Perceptual and motor skills, 83(3), 921-922.
Corroborating results are found in Spain:
Prats-Uribe, A., Tobías, A., & Prieto-Alhambra, D. (2018). Excess risk of fatal road traffic accidents on the day of daylight saving time change. Epidemiology, 29(5), e44-e45.
And even in a sample localized to my own New England:
Coren, S. (1996). Daylight savings time and traffic accidents. New England Journal of Medicine, 334(14), 924-925.
To my knowledge no mood boost or reduction in death rates has been observed on the transition back to standard time.
In Sweden, I've heard an argument for sticking to either DST or ST from dairy cow farmers that complain cattle are very sensitive to the time changes in their feeding or milking windows, and that the biannual changes create problems (as in health of the animals, less milk produced and what not). Have you heard about this?
Anders mentioned that yesterday and however much I try to, I can't understand that argument. Why can't the farmers milk at 4 am in winter and at 5 am in summer? As far as I know, milk trucks don't come just in time. They only come like every second day. So the whole thing seems quite incomprehensible.
Many dairy farms nowadays are big operations with employees. They might have schedules or something. But still, negotiating with a few farmhands should be easier than negotiating with a whole country.
I'd be happy for Daylight Savings Time all year round. Mornings are dark in winter for me regardless. I hear that the people in Spain would instead be happy with Standard Time all year round. I'd say let both countries have what they want, at a cost of 'the time in Spain being one hour behind time in Sweden' which is something I could easily live with.
I can also feel a bit tempted by permanent daylight saving time. But when I read about those who actually try it I believe it would affect me on a less conscious psychological level. Compact darkness in the mornings seem to make people tired.
In practical life, daylight saving time helps us a lot. We go three kilometers to school with the children by bike every morning. We need to be there by 8 AM. Because of the existence of standard time, we can almost totally avoid biking in darkness: Just when mornings are getting dark in October, standard time comes and saves us. With permanent daylight saving time we would have had to travel in complete darkness from October to March.
Thinking about it, standard time might most of all be beneficial for children. Most adult people need to get back from work in the late afternoon anyway. Children, however, tend to have early schedules. With standard time they are allowed to spend their school day and the commute between home and school in daylight.
What if, instead of having year-round standard time (which sucks in the summer), year-round daylight savings time (which sucks in the winter), or dealing with a painful transition between them once a year, we split the difference: move the clocks forward a half-hour so peak daylight occurs at 12:30, and keep it that way year-round?
The transition from standard to daylight time makes people unhappy on the following day, especially if they are employed full-time, as a German study shows:
Kountouris, Y., & Remoundou, K. (2014). About time: daylight saving time transition and individual well-being. Economics Letters, 122(1), 100-103.
This brief period of societally-induced jet-lag has severe consequences for the unlucky, as roughly 200 Americans die of traffic accidents every year at the shift to DST due to sleep loss:
Coren, S. (1996). Accidental death and the shift to daylight savings time. Perceptual and motor skills, 83(3), 921-922.
Corroborating results are found in Spain:
Prats-Uribe, A., Tobías, A., & Prieto-Alhambra, D. (2018). Excess risk of fatal road traffic accidents on the day of daylight saving time change. Epidemiology, 29(5), e44-e45.
And even in a sample localized to my own New England:
Coren, S. (1996). Daylight savings time and traffic accidents. New England Journal of Medicine, 334(14), 924-925.
To my knowledge no mood boost or reduction in death rates has been observed on the transition back to standard time.
The case for making transition smoother is clear!
In Sweden, I've heard an argument for sticking to either DST or ST from dairy cow farmers that complain cattle are very sensitive to the time changes in their feeding or milking windows, and that the biannual changes create problems (as in health of the animals, less milk produced and what not). Have you heard about this?
Anders mentioned that yesterday and however much I try to, I can't understand that argument. Why can't the farmers milk at 4 am in winter and at 5 am in summer? As far as I know, milk trucks don't come just in time. They only come like every second day. So the whole thing seems quite incomprehensible.
I found an old article about it and the farmer basically said it just sucks to get up earlier 😅
Many dairy farms nowadays are big operations with employees. They might have schedules or something. But still, negotiating with a few farmhands should be easier than negotiating with a whole country.
I'd be happy for Daylight Savings Time all year round. Mornings are dark in winter for me regardless. I hear that the people in Spain would instead be happy with Standard Time all year round. I'd say let both countries have what they want, at a cost of 'the time in Spain being one hour behind time in Sweden' which is something I could easily live with.
I can also feel a bit tempted by permanent daylight saving time. But when I read about those who actually try it I believe it would affect me on a less conscious psychological level. Compact darkness in the mornings seem to make people tired.
In practical life, daylight saving time helps us a lot. We go three kilometers to school with the children by bike every morning. We need to be there by 8 AM. Because of the existence of standard time, we can almost totally avoid biking in darkness: Just when mornings are getting dark in October, standard time comes and saves us. With permanent daylight saving time we would have had to travel in complete darkness from October to March.
Thinking about it, standard time might most of all be beneficial for children. Most adult people need to get back from work in the late afternoon anyway. Children, however, tend to have early schedules. With standard time they are allowed to spend their school day and the commute between home and school in daylight.
No firm views on clock adjustments. But I am always captivated by the tilting Earth and love that hour changes make it seem even more magical.
When the government institutes Daylight Savings Hour Friday, it should hire you to write the information leaflet.
🤓