March 7, 2024 • 10 mins
Does switching the clock twice a year bug you? If so, you can blame — in part — entomologist George Vernon Hudson. In 1895, the New Zealand scientist presented a paper proposing a two-hour shift forward in the summer, switching it back in the fall. His reasoning? He was frustrated that it got dark so early in the summer that it was interfering with his bug collecting. History has been much more kind to him than the Royal Society that he presented to. They mocked him, some members saying that proposal was both confusing and unnecessary. And a lot of people these days are feeling the same way about Daylight Saving Time and switching the clocks twice a year.
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(00:01):
Switching the clock twice a year bugyou now, if it does, you
can blame in part entomologist George VernonHudson. In eighteen ninety five, the
New Zealand scientist presented a paper proposinga two hour shift forward in the summer,
switching it back in the fall.His reasoning he was frustrated that it
got dark so early in the summerthat it was interfering with his bug collective.
(00:24):
Now history has been much more kindthan the Royal Society that he presented
to. They kind of mocked them, some members, saying that proposal was
both confusing and unnecessary, and alot of people these days are feeling the
same way about daylight saving time andswitching the clocks twice a year. Welcome
to my podcast Taking Out Loud,presented exclusively by Saltwire. So that had
(00:55):
me thinking about the modern day historyof the modern day practice of switching our
clocks for daylight saving time. Now. William Willett was a British builder,
had an avid golfer, and hisproposal back in England in nineteen oh five
was to move the clocks ahead twentyminutes on each of the four Sundays in
April, as the days were gettinglonger, more daylight hours were available,
(01:18):
and then you would switch them backby that same amount on each of the
four Sundays in September. His reasoning, well, he was a golfer in
dusk was cutting into his golf game, but moving the clocks eight times a
year that sounded way too complicated fora member of parliament who introduced a bill
to their house in nineteen oh nine, but that was for a one hour
time shift and it really didn't gainany traction while it was in small town
(01:44):
Canada. Coincidentally that one of thefirst early adopters that practice happened, and
that was before the rest of theglobe followed the lead of Germany in the
First World War. It was theOntario towns of Port Arthur and Fort William
now known as Thunder Bay, andthey took the lead from a businessman and
by the name of John Hewitson.He made a pitch to those councils to
move the clocks to give more summersunshine to residents. And he was also
(02:07):
a sports guy and felt that theextra daylight would give people more time to
play after a day of work.And that was in nineteen eight Globally,
it was the German and Austro Hungarianempires that went with the clock switching by
the end of April nineteen sixteen forfinancial reasons, and it became law and
(02:28):
way to save money on coal duringthe First World War. Was long after
that nineteen eighteen that Canada and theUnited States and other countries all adopted the
practice under legislation. Here we aremore than one hundred years later and we're
still doing it bi annually and complainingabout it. That's also an annual fault
in spring ritual. So what arethe impacts on us? Who is daylight
(02:53):
saving time saving? Clinical psychologist doctorSimon Sherry says, we should really rethink
this entire scheme. As a professorin the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at
Dalhousing University, he's been looking atthe implications of the time shift on our
minds and on our bodies. DoctorSimon Sherry daylight savings time transitions are not
(03:19):
good for our body and our brain. For instance, you see more accidents,
more fatal accidents occur around this time. You see more heart attacks and
more strokes. If we look morefrom a mental health standpoint, we observe
new cases of depression beginning around thistime. There's even disturbing evidence that the
(03:40):
suicide rate goes up by as muchas six percent around that daylight savings time
transition. So it seems like thereare trustworthy and destructive psychological and physical impacts
that accompany this spring forward one hourchange. But as you would probably understand
more than anyone, there's a spectrumon how people deal with stresses and when
(04:05):
it comes to this particular event,it was born out of people saying,
you know, it's a long workdayand it's good to have longer evening hours
for me to get outside. Whatdoes doctor Simon Sherry say to that argument.
I think there's a lot to besaid in favor of an extra hour
of daylight time. I appreciate itmyself, but there's a price it's paid
(04:29):
for that. As we gain thatextra hour of evening time, it could
be good for commerce, people domore shopping. Flipside, is there actually
evidence that there's more crime that thanoccurs in the evening There's one more hour
to get up to misdeeds. Interms of the biological and psychological consequences,
our body runs at a twenty fourhour clock. We can call that a
(04:49):
circadian rhythm, and that circadian rhythmrequires likes regularity. And so even though
a one hour jump isn't a assivejump, when we disregulate that circadian rhythm,
there's a cost. It affects ourneurotransmitters, it affects our hormones,
and it affects how we feel interms of our body and brain. If
(05:12):
this is in fact taking a tollerof stress on us, because in effect,
in the spring we lose in oursleep. If we want to put
it in that way, and Iknow babies and pets don't like to adapt
to that time change again circadian rhythm. Would you then say there's a benefit
to us our physical and mental wellbeing if we get that extra hour sleep
(05:35):
in the fall. Playing Devil's advocatehere with the doctor, you should be.
Because the scientific community is at odds. There's legitimate points on either side.
For instance, our sleep scientists willtell us that it's valuable to get
an extra hour of sunshine in themorning. Our brain responds well to the
(05:57):
presence of light in the morning,and so we get a nice early warning
awakening that involves sunlight. We're passinga little sunlight through the retinas, it
can be good for your brain andlower rates of things like winter blues and
depression. So the dispute is whereoptimally should we replace this additional hour of
sunlight. And it's not really clearat this point. We've had governments discussed
(06:23):
this. We in Nova Scotia hada party that suggested we get rid of
this. Where should the decision bemade at a scientific level, on a
human effect level, or public policy. This is now a public health problem.
We're exposing the entire population, minusa province or two, to this
(06:46):
change. In America, they're exposingthe entire country to this change. So
I understand why public health officials andregulators are interested in it, and it's
an interlocking problem. This says implicationsfor change in our economies, It has
implications for how trade is conducted,and it has big time implications for health.
This time change affects seventy countries andone point six billion people, so
(07:12):
it's quite consequential, obviously, Eileen, in the direction of prioritizing mental health.
But there's more on the go.I've touched on crime, trade,
our economy. It's quite an importantdecision. If politicians aren't willing necessarily to
engage in this discussion. This eventhappens twice a year, and twice a
year we have this debate. Whenthis was initially proposed by at least one
(07:34):
individual, they said, we shouldadd twenty minutes to the clock on these
Sundays on each of the Sundays inApril, and then do the reverse and
take away twenty minutes on the clockon the Mondays or the Sundays in September.
Would that make this any easier forus to adapt and adopt From a
practical standpoint, the Shaw household alreadyhas a difficult time executing on this once,
(07:58):
let alone thrice, so I wouldhave concerns there. But as a
scientist, I'm curious about what youhave to say because it's fading and it's
more at increments, and it maybe less disruptive to our sleep that circadian
rhythm. Another thing that deserves someconsideration here is melatonin production. So that's
a sleepy time hormone, and whenyou have sunlight present in your eyes later
(08:22):
in the evening, you don't getthe same secretion of melatonin, So this
may actually keep us up a littlebit later too, so there are unintended
consequences one way or the other.Here other scary stats. Lots of accidents,
including fatal accidents, occur a weekor two after, and especially the
few days after we make this daylightsavings time transition. Again, it's a
(08:46):
political decision, and I would askyour recommendation, your advice, what's the
best way to present this to convinceothers that what we're doing may be working
for some, but it's not workingfor the majority. I would prioritize human
health. I'm concerned by the dataon linking this time transition to daylight savings
(09:07):
time in order of importance to suicide, depression, and the misuse of substances.
It scrambles sleep and messes with thatcircadian rhythm, and I think it's
probably time to get rid of it. I would switch to a permanent extra
hour of daylight. And in thebackground, I can hear my sleep scientist
colleague saying, Simon, don't doit. So I think we're going to
(09:28):
be arguing about this, maybe endup in a somewhat state of paralysis.
We'll have an enjoyable lack of onehour sleep on Sunday, Doctor Simon Cherry
thank you. I've enjoyed the conversation. Thank you. Your phone is probably
smart enough to have set the clockahead by an hour, not so much
(09:48):
for the one in the car,I'm guessing. Make sure you check your
smoke and carbon monoxide detector too,just in case. I'm Sheldon McLeod.
This is Thinking out Loud, mypodcast, present it you exclusively my Saltwire,
and a reminder for you to likeand subscribe and comment. You'll be
notified of our latest episodes and I'dlove to hear from you. You can
(10:11):
reach me at Sheldon dot McLoud atsaltwire dot com. Thanks for listening.
Switching the clock twice a year bugyou now, if it does, you
can blame in part entomologist George VernonHudson. In eighteen ninety five, the
New Zealand scientist presented a paper proposinga two hour shift forward in the summer,
switching it back in the fall.His reasoning he was frustrated that it
got dark so early in the summerthat it was interfering with his bug collective.
(00:24):
Now history has been much more kindthan the Royal Society that he presented
to. They kind of mocked them, some members, saying that proposal was
both confusing and unnecessary, and alot of people these days are feeling the
same way about daylight saving time andswitching the clocks twice a year. Welcome
to my podcast Taking Out Loud,presented exclusively by Saltwire. So that had
(00:55):
me thinking about the modern day historyof the modern day practice of switching our
clocks for daylight saving time. Now. William Willett was a British builder,
had an avid golfer, and hisproposal back in England in nineteen oh five
was to move the clocks ahead twentyminutes on each of the four Sundays in
April, as the days were gettinglonger, more daylight hours were available,
(01:18):
and then you would switch them backby that same amount on each of the
four Sundays in September. His reasoning, well, he was a golfer in
dusk was cutting into his golf game, but moving the clocks eight times a
year that sounded way too complicated fora member of parliament who introduced a bill
to their house in nineteen oh nine, but that was for a one hour
time shift and it really didn't gainany traction while it was in small town
(01:44):
Canada. Coincidentally that one of thefirst early adopters that practice happened, and
that was before the rest of theglobe followed the lead of Germany in the
First World War. It was theOntario towns of Port Arthur and Fort William
now known as Thunder Bay, andthey took the lead from a businessman and
by the name of John Hewitson.He made a pitch to those councils to
move the clocks to give more summersunshine to residents. And he was also
(02:07):
a sports guy and felt that theextra daylight would give people more time to
play after a day of work.And that was in nineteen eight Globally,
it was the German and Austro Hungarianempires that went with the clock switching by
the end of April nineteen sixteen forfinancial reasons, and it became law and
(02:28):
way to save money on coal duringthe First World War. Was long after
that nineteen eighteen that Canada and theUnited States and other countries all adopted the
practice under legislation. Here we aremore than one hundred years later and we're
still doing it bi annually and complainingabout it. That's also an annual fault
in spring ritual. So what arethe impacts on us? Who is daylight
(02:53):
saving time saving? Clinical psychologist doctorSimon Sherry says, we should really rethink
this entire scheme. As a professorin the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at
Dalhousing University, he's been looking atthe implications of the time shift on our
minds and on our bodies. DoctorSimon Sherry daylight savings time transitions are not
(03:19):
good for our body and our brain. For instance, you see more accidents,
more fatal accidents occur around this time. You see more heart attacks and
more strokes. If we look morefrom a mental health standpoint, we observe
new cases of depression beginning around thistime. There's even disturbing evidence that the
(03:40):
suicide rate goes up by as muchas six percent around that daylight savings time
transition. So it seems like thereare trustworthy and destructive psychological and physical impacts
that accompany this spring forward one hourchange. But as you would probably understand
more than anyone, there's a spectrumon how people deal with stresses and when
(04:05):
it comes to this particular event,it was born out of people saying,
you know, it's a long workdayand it's good to have longer evening hours
for me to get outside. Whatdoes doctor Simon Sherry say to that argument.
I think there's a lot to besaid in favor of an extra hour
of daylight time. I appreciate itmyself, but there's a price it's paid
(04:29):
for that. As we gain thatextra hour of evening time, it could
be good for commerce, people domore shopping. Flipside, is there actually
evidence that there's more crime that thanoccurs in the evening There's one more hour
to get up to misdeeds. Interms of the biological and psychological consequences,
our body runs at a twenty fourhour clock. We can call that a
(04:49):
circadian rhythm, and that circadian rhythmrequires likes regularity. And so even though
a one hour jump isn't a assivejump, when we disregulate that circadian rhythm,
there's a cost. It affects ourneurotransmitters, it affects our hormones,
and it affects how we feel interms of our body and brain. If
(05:12):
this is in fact taking a tollerof stress on us, because in effect,
in the spring we lose in oursleep. If we want to put
it in that way, and Iknow babies and pets don't like to adapt
to that time change again circadian rhythm. Would you then say there's a benefit
to us our physical and mental wellbeing if we get that extra hour sleep
(05:35):
in the fall. Playing Devil's advocatehere with the doctor, you should be.
Because the scientific community is at odds. There's legitimate points on either side.
For instance, our sleep scientists willtell us that it's valuable to get
an extra hour of sunshine in themorning. Our brain responds well to the
(05:57):
presence of light in the morning,and so we get a nice early warning
awakening that involves sunlight. We're passinga little sunlight through the retinas, it
can be good for your brain andlower rates of things like winter blues and
depression. So the dispute is whereoptimally should we replace this additional hour of
sunlight. And it's not really clearat this point. We've had governments discussed
(06:23):
this. We in Nova Scotia hada party that suggested we get rid of
this. Where should the decision bemade at a scientific level, on a
human effect level, or public policy. This is now a public health problem.
We're exposing the entire population, minusa province or two, to this
(06:46):
change. In America, they're exposingthe entire country to this change. So
I understand why public health officials andregulators are interested in it, and it's
an interlocking problem. This says implicationsfor change in our economies, It has
implications for how trade is conducted,and it has big time implications for health.
This time change affects seventy countries andone point six billion people, so
(07:12):
it's quite consequential, obviously, Eileen, in the direction of prioritizing mental health.
But there's more on the go.I've touched on crime, trade,
our economy. It's quite an importantdecision. If politicians aren't willing necessarily to
engage in this discussion. This eventhappens twice a year, and twice a
year we have this debate. Whenthis was initially proposed by at least one
(07:34):
individual, they said, we shouldadd twenty minutes to the clock on these
Sundays on each of the Sundays inApril, and then do the reverse and
take away twenty minutes on the clockon the Mondays or the Sundays in September.
Would that make this any easier forus to adapt and adopt From a
practical standpoint, the Shaw household alreadyhas a difficult time executing on this once,
(07:58):
let alone thrice, so I wouldhave concerns there. But as a
scientist, I'm curious about what youhave to say because it's fading and it's
more at increments, and it maybe less disruptive to our sleep that circadian
rhythm. Another thing that deserves someconsideration here is melatonin production. So that's
a sleepy time hormone, and whenyou have sunlight present in your eyes later
(08:22):
in the evening, you don't getthe same secretion of melatonin, So this
may actually keep us up a littlebit later too, so there are unintended
consequences one way or the other.Here other scary stats. Lots of accidents,
including fatal accidents, occur a weekor two after, and especially the
few days after we make this daylightsavings time transition. Again, it's a
(08:46):
political decision, and I would askyour recommendation, your advice, what's the
best way to present this to convinceothers that what we're doing may be working
for some, but it's not workingfor the majority. I would prioritize human
health. I'm concerned by the dataon linking this time transition to daylight savings
(09:07):
time in order of importance to suicide, depression, and the misuse of substances.
It scrambles sleep and messes with thatcircadian rhythm, and I think it's
probably time to get rid of it. I would switch to a permanent extra
hour of daylight. And in thebackground, I can hear my sleep scientist
colleague saying, Simon, don't doit. So I think we're going to
(09:28):
be arguing about this, maybe endup in a somewhat state of paralysis.
We'll have an enjoyable lack of onehour sleep on Sunday, Doctor Simon Cherry
thank you. I've enjoyed the conversation. Thank you. Your phone is probably
smart enough to have set the clockahead by an hour, not so much
(09:48):
for the one in the car,I'm guessing. Make sure you check your
smoke and carbon monoxide detector too,just in case. I'm Sheldon McLeod.
This is Thinking out Loud, mypodcast, present it you exclusively my Saltwire,
and a reminder for you to likeand subscribe and comment. You'll be
notified of our latest episodes and I'dlove to hear from you. You can
(10:11):
reach me at Sheldon dot McLoud atsaltwire dot com. Thanks for listening.
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