Time Out

Time to stop the clock:

Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Daylight Saving was grounded in good-faith efforts to reduce energy consumption, but that instead it has led to increased auto accidents in the dark, workplace issues and objections from the agriculture sector that relies on early-morning sunlight. "We find ourselves adjusting our clocks… springing forward and falling back in the fall. For many Americans, this biannual ritual is a minor inconvenience… But when we take a closer look at the implications of changing the clocks, its impact on our economy, our health and our everyday lives, we can see that this practice is more than an annoyance," Cruz said. "The idea was simple. Fewer hours of darkness meant less electricity consumption for lighting and heating." However, unlike the early 1900s, when the U.S. economy was heavily reliant on energy consumption tied to daylight hours, today’s effects from sunrise and sunset timings are "de minimis," he said. Cruz, along with Massachusetts neurology physician Dr. Karin Johnson, spoke about the health concerns associated with changing the time twice a year and with the permanence of Daylight Saving Time (DST), versus Standard Time. "Research has shown that the abrupt shift in time, especially the spring transition when we lose an hour of sleep," Cruz said, as Johnson spoke about the effects on people’s circadian rhythm, vascular system and sleep deprivation.

We have become slaves to the clock rhythm...