Ohhhh, now I understand (I think) …

Well, we all got the benefit of an extra hour of sleep Saturday night, which I personally appreciated. However, anyone who has ever worked with me knows to expect the usual complaint on Monday about it getting dark too early. I’m more of a night owl and have always appreciated daylight lingering late into the afternoon and early evening. I get it though; I have heard the statistics that the time changes are disruptive to our routines and have a negative impact on our immune systems.

So here comes Congress to the rescue. The Senate approved a law earlier this year, “The Sunshine Protection Act”, which still needs to be voted on by the House of Representatives. This law would result in no time change in November of every year. There are pros and cons to both daylight and standard savings time. Daylight Savings Time was originally instituted during World War I to reduce energy consumption, but these days the primary arguments in favor of the time shift are centered on additional time available for evening activities. I read that the golf industry was a strong proponent of Daylight Savings Time for just that reason (not a joke) and I would agree that is more difficult to find my golf ball in the woods when it is dark (also unfortunately not a joke).

However, I have read that Congress shockingly (sarcasm alert) may have gotten it wrong in terms of which time option to make permanent. Research argues in favor of moving permanently to standard time. Daylight saving time reduces exposure to morning sunlight, making it more difficult to wake up in the morning and it is also harder to fall asleep at night with later daylight hours. We also have an internal body clock, which follows a 24-hour schedule known as a circadian rhythm which is more consistent with daylight during standard time. It will be interesting to see if the House of Representatives signs off on the same bill as the Senate or if we continue with business as usual.

So in addition to understanding the science and history behind the time changes, I now know whether we are in daylight savings or daylight standard time. Good thing I stuck with finance as a career.

The author of this article is Rick Ropelewski, Wealth Manager at U.S. Wealth Management.

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