DAVIS COUNTY—During the First and Second World Wars, the United States implemented many programs in order to expedite the end of each conflict. These took the forms of scrap and rubber drives, rationing, war bond drives, and much more. While inconvenient for the time, they did help hasten victory and were soon repealed. What does this have to do with Daylight Saving Time? Surprisingly, just about everything.

Despite what many have heard, or have been told about Daylight Saving being for farmers, or for school children, or this or that, the hour shift, either forward or back, was instituted in the United States as a wartime measure during the First World War in an effort to conserve materials like coal, gasoline and other things used for heat, light, and transportation. 

Following the war, Daylight Saving was discontinued, and life resumed as normal. However, another, deadlier conflict soon arrived with World War II. The government of the United States reinstituted Daylight Saving for the conflict, again, in an effort to curtail excessive use of coal, oil, gasoline, and other products useful for the war effort.

Again, following the war, this was curtailed, and the decision of whether or not to observe Daylight Saving was left up to local jurisdictions…for a time. Then, in the mid-20th century, Americans saw the shift, and Daylight Saving became just a way of life, albeit a somewhat confusing one for many. 

It stands to reason that it would be confusing, too. While food, gas, and other rationing made sense from 1941 through 1945, following the war it wouldn’t serve a purpose. It’s been a few decades since people widely bought war bonds, and rightly so, but, why is the United States still holding on to the wartime measure of Daylight Saving?

Of course, there are many that argue for or against, but the latter has been gaining more and more traction in recent years. Utah, in fact, passed a law that would, upon action from Congress, eliminate the need to switch in the spring and fall. Granted, waiting on Congress to make a decision like this could mean a change may not be seen for a few generations, but, why change?

The extra hour of sunlight has never been the issue for those arguing against the change. In fact, that’s one of the best things that Daylight Saving has going for it. No, the issues arise from the adjusting that everyone has to do the day of, and weeks and months following. Unsurprisingly, the lack of sleep and changing sleep schedules have a profound impact on health at large.

Many health studies have found that the change in sleep patterns because of Daylight Saving Time has been linked to an uptick in depression, headaches, weight gain, heart attacks, stroke, and a whole host of other mental, emotional, and physical maladies. This begs the question: do the benefits of extra sunlight really outweigh the cost to public health? 

In addition to the health risks posed by the change, there are also inconveniences in adjustment for those who don’t understand the time change. Many people with infants or pets will find that, regardless of what the clock may say, those little ones will still play by their own rules, furthering sleep deprivation on the part of all parties involved.

Regardless of which side of the argument people fall on, clocks are set to change once more on Nov. 5, 2023.