We all dread that time of the year where our time gets pushed back an hour – referred to as daylight savings (or DST). DST was first introduced back in 1918 under the name of The Standard Time Act and it was made to save the U.S. money on fuel during World War I. Even though some of us don’t like DST it’s still important. It’s important because of the fact that it was created for us to get more use out of our natural daylight. People think that daylight savings is bad and that we shouldn’t have it but in reality it can actually be of use. There are many good and bad reasons for daylight savings which is probably why it is hard to get rid of it.
Although we don’t know it there are actually a pretty good amount of upsides to daylight savings time or (DST). These good things about daylight savings time include how it was made to lower the crime rates, lower the amount of traffic accidents, and the tourism industry actually benefits. DST was made to lower the crime rates which so far has been working due to the amount of sunlight to the amount of darkness. The more daylight there is then there is less crime and the more darkness there is the more crime will happen. The second statement about how there are less traffic accidents is also kind of the same as the crime one because deer are crepuscular, meaning they are more active when it’s dark or if it’s light but can also come out in both day and night. If it’s dark it’s a bit harder to see the deer than in the light meaning there would be less crashes that involve deer. The last positive to DST is that the tourism industry actually benefits because there would be more things to do for the tourists than if it was standard time.
While there are many benefits there are also many drawbacks. A few of these drawback are DST affects people’s health, farmers’ animals, and it affects the amount of energy people use. You may not know this but DST actually affects the body’s circadian rhythm. The circadian rhythm is the body’s sleep schedule and if we change it even by an hour it could affect peoples health. These health risks include strokes, developing insomnia, heart problems, and mental health problems. People may not realize this but DST actually affects farmers animals. For example if a cow is on a schedule to be milked right at 6:00 every day and then time gets pushed by an hour then the cow has to wait to be milked, this cow doesn’t understand the switch of time. Once a cow is on a schedule it’s hard to switch them to a new schedule due to DST. DST also increases the amount of energy you use because of how it gets dark earlier. If its darker earlier then your gonna need more energy to light up your house.
