86 ~ Does Daylight Saving Time short-change our kids?

Here we are again: the annual commencement of the institutionalized oppression of morning people, better known as Daylight Saving Time (DST).  And my biennial whine about it. 

As someone who likes to live in flow with the land and the world around us, I’m no fan of DST.  It pushes morning back into night, as if knocking the Earth a bit off-kilter, and at this time of year I and other morning folks lose our chance for a walk or run before the workday begins (I’m just not up for running on dark, wintry roads, or any dark roads).

There are two things for which I’ll need more spiritual growth before I can forgive the W. Bush administration: the invasion of Iraq, and the expansion of DST to nearly eight months of the year.  Here in mid March, a time to enjoy watching and experiencing the transition of gradually lengthening days, DST trys to jerk us by the collar into a summery light schedule.  We’re always in such a hurry.

            First thing, let’s dispense with some myths about the origin of DST. It wasn’t created for the benefit of farmers. Most farmers work by the sun, and don’t much care what clocks in town read. In fact, farmers were some of the most vocal opponents of DST when it was introduced in the early 1900s. Nor is DST with us to save electricity (it’s not clear how turning on lights to function in the morning under DST saves electricity…). 

According to the interesting and well-researched book, Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time (2009, by Michael Downing), in the early part of the last century, debates swung back and forth about putting the US on something like DST. Its eventual adoption had nothing to do with the wishes of rural folk; rather, it was the citified who got it passed.  It was lobbying by New York City merchants (probably helped by some political ‘donations’) that finally swung the balance and got DST set into law. The merchants believed, probably correctly, that with light shifted from morning to evening, people would have more time to shop the city’s streets after leaving their places of work for the day.  We have consumerism to thank for DST in America (perhaps not such a surprise).

There’s been talk toward (and some legislation aimed at) getting rid of the shifts, by putting the United States permanently on DST. Saying goodbye to the annual shifts might have merit (relieving of us all of something like small doses of jetlag twice a year), but a move toward permanent DST would, in my humble perspective, be a solution in the wrong direction (and I’ll ponder a move to Arizona or Hawaii, the only states without DST, if that comes to pass).  My selfish interest aside, it’s especially the wrong direction if we care about kids.

The circadian rhythm of an adolescent is fundamentally different from that of an adult.  Adolescents are wired as night owls – they naturally fall asleep later at night, and so get up later in the morning. They’re not being lazy or rebellious, they’re just responding to their internal body clocks, as we all do.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, “Not getting enough sleep is common among high school students and is associated with several health risks including being overweight, drinking alcohol, smoking tobacco, and using drugs, as well as poor academic performance.  One of the reasons adolescents do not get enough sleep is early school start times. The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that middle and high schools start at 8:30 a.m. or later to give students the opportunity to get the amount of sleep they need.”

With a start time of 8:05 a.m., the schools in my area are already behind the curve of this bare minimum recommendation (a 10 or 11 a.m. start time would probably result in even better school performance and student well-being). And when we shift to DST, the effect is to have kids get up even an hour earlier for school. When we’re still under DST come late October and November, the kids along my road will be waiting for the school bus in the dark. Nuts, imho. According to pediatric research, a teen rising at 5 or 6 a.m. to get ready for school (either that clock time, or its equivalent under DST) is akin to an adult getting up at 3 a.m.

One could argue that kids can and should just buck it up, and farm kids have always gotten up early to help with chores.  But we should venture to ask, how are they doing?  Teen suicide has been on the rise for the past decade, as has been deaths of young people from overdoses of alcohol and drugs. With this as the backdrop reality, it behooves us to give kids their best shot – which does not include DST, at least during the school year.  

Spring and summer will be here soon enough – perhaps a bit of patience is warranted.  We could just let the seasons unfold in their due course (at least within the school year), let the sun continue to arc to its customary zenith at noon each day, and by doing so lend some support to our kids. Just an idea.