If the cool mornings and evenings doesn’t have you convinced that fall is well underway, there are plenty of other signs, such as shorter evenings, and it’s almost 7:30 a.m. before daylight appears. Also, the leaves are falling, and some fall color has appeared. And, tomorrow is Halloween!
And then Saturday night — well, actually Sunday morning — the time changes again.
Last March we set our clocks ahead one hour to “spring forward,” and now this weekend we’ve got to remember to “fall back” and set the clocks back one hour before retiring for the night Saturday, or night owls can be punctual and do it at 2 a.m., when the change to Eastern Standard Time actually takes place.
Why do we change the time every spring and fall? For one reason, Congressional action dictates the changes. It set the current dates for the changes as recently as 2007.
Daylight Saving Time first took hold here and in Europe during World War I to save fuel, namely coal, during the evening hours. DST was used on and off over the years and states could opt to use it or not, which caused a lot of confusion in transportation and communications.
You may have heard that farmers favor the time change, well, that’s bunk. Historically, the farming community has been against time changes — life on a farm is dictated by sunrises and sunsets — and livestock has no use for clocks.
Are time changes needed? There are arguments in their favor, but many studies have found that changing to Daylight Saving does more harm than good.
According to a study by “PBS News Hour,” when we “spring forward” we lose an hour, “which comes disproportionately from resting hours rather than wakeful time. Therefore, many problems associated with springing forward stem from sleep deprivation. With less rest, people make more mistakes, which appear to cause more traffic accidents and workplace injuries.”
Also, even when we gain that hour back in the fall, we must readjust our routines over several days because the sun and our internal alarm clocks feel out of synchronization, much like jet lag.
Whether you disagree with the time changes or not, there is one benefit that comes with them: A reminder to change your smoke alarm batteries. If you have no detectors in your home, this is a great time to install them.
Public safety officials have said a properly installed and maintained smoke detector is the only thing in homes that can alert families to a fire 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Whether you are awake or asleep, a working smoke detector is always on alert, scanning the air for fire and smoke.
So remember to check those smoke detectors when you reset your timepieces on Saturday. Doing both will make you ready for the next time this happens, on March 10.