Daylight-Saving must go

Finally, the abuse of daylight-saving time (DST) ends this weekend in New Zealand. Our children and workers have been marching to work in the pitch black. They have been sleep disrupted, hormonally imbalanced, moody and unproductive. At the same time, the Northern Hemisphere is tossed into another six-month biological nightmare.

The European Union, last week voted to end DST by 2021. The Economist has an interesting short article on why. In summary, this is why we should banish DST:

1. Every time we bring in DST there is a 25% increase in heart disease
2. DST makes our children accident prone, distracted and tired
3. The human circadian clock is disrupted by DST
4. Evening light disrupts melatonin release and delays sleep
5. Blue light in the morning is essential to serotonin, mood and wakefulness
6. When we end DST there is a 21% increase in heart disease
7. The business scheduling costs of the change are immense
8. The energy saving at night is cancelled by heating in the morning
9. DST compromises the most productive 'larks' of our society
10. DST condemns the 'owls' to excessive night revelry and serious sleep disruption

New Zealand entomologist George Hudson is guilty of first proposing modern DST in 1895 to allow him to collect insects. It was first adopted in Ontario in 1908 and more widely around 1916. The reasons have varied by period and country. In general, farmers widely oppose it as do the 'larks' who love to exercise and enjoy nature in the morning. 'Owls who prefer activity in the evening - sometimes sporting and sometimes imbibing, prefer DST. Retail loves it.

The history is delightful and worth a read. The economics and health effects are complex and confused. Daylight-savings is doomed. It is simply a matter of time. The sooner New Zealand accepts this the faster we will improve mental health, productivity on our farms and in our businesses, and help our children grow, mature and learn. Removing DST may also relieve the pressures on our health systems by reducing heart disease and mental illness.

The logic is very simple and based on well understood biological principles. We flourish when our circadian clock is well synchronised to the day-night cycle. If you want to optimise your health, emotional intelligence and cognition there are two conclusions:

1. We need to be awake and about in the blue light before dawn as it resets the circadian clock to stimulate wakefulness, wellbeing and performance. Every time you lose this synchrony, you are penalised for several days (jet-lagged). We do this to ourselves and our children every weekend. Shame on us.
2. The earlier darkness descends, the more fully prepared we are for sleep. With a sleep deprived world sacrificing 2% of GDP, we urgently need to get ourselves and our children to sleep earlier. DST wrecks this.

Early light stimulates the better angels of our nature and daylight-savings brings out the demons. Let's get out and banish this foolish experiment. I will sleep better tonight and so look forward to getting out to exercise in the dawn blue light.??