4 ms·

In short, because DST better aligns with most people's day schedules than standard time does because it adds daylight time in the evening instead of in the morn

In short, because DST better aligns with most people's day schedules than standard time does because it adds daylight time in the evening instead of in the morning (I'd love a better source than this[0], but it matches the rationale I've always heard). [0]: https://time.com/5888112/daylight-savings-time-permanent/ https://time.com/5888112/daylight-savings-time-permanent/

jonny_eh 6y ago
> DST better aligns with most people's day schedules I don't understand how this can be true. If it's better for people to wake up an hour earlier or later, then do that. Who cares what the clock says?
- quest88 6y ago
  School / work / other obligations start at a time that would prevent people from sleeping an extra hour.
- thayne 6y ago
  > Who cares what the clock says? People whose schedules are dictated by another entity, such as a school or employer.
- jfrankamp 6y ago
  Yesterday my wife and kid were trying to go for a walk in the neighborhood before the light ended and the sun set. My work expects me to be callable until 5. I sent them out without me at 4, the sun sets here around 4:30. I never left the house. I would pay actual money to get that hour back and be on DST year round. I would be interested to see if the split of opinion on this has to do with early risers/night owl orientation primarily, for me more light earlier has almost no value, but light at the end of the work day is worth a lot.
  - mac01021 6y ago
    > for me more light earlier has almost no value, but light at the end of the work day is worth a lot. I agree with this, but why wouldn't we stay on standard time and just all switch to starting school and work an hour earlier? It would achieve the same thing as permanent DST except it would also preserve the property of our time system that midnight and noon are the times that the sun is lowest and highest in the sky.
    - jfrankamp 6y ago
      Changing time is less expensive than billions of schedules. Noon at solar noon is already broken for so many people, I'm not sure it matters if its off a little more. I do find both equally arbitrary though.
lamontcg 6y ago
> DST better aligns with most people's day schedules I'd like to see that studied closely in light of the fact that 1 in 3 Americans suffers from chronic sleep deprivation. And just because people have earlier schedules doesn't mean that they operate well with earlier schedules -- and because society programs us for decades to wake up earlier and to view oversleeping as sloth just asking people what their preferred sleep schedule is may bias results. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that half the people in this thread who think they really want that hour of light at the end of the day wouldn't function much better if they got more sleep in the morning. There's also the asymmetry where people who are early risers want that extra hour of light in the evening -- at the cost of the late sleepers suffering chronic sleep deprivation and all the related health costs ("I want an extra hour of light, and you dying early of a heart attack is a small cost to pay for that").
- koheripbal 6y ago
  I'm confused as to why the alignment of the clock with the sun should cause sleep deprivation, aside from the transitional period. It does not impact when people choose to go to sleep, which is the biggest predictive factor in how much sleep they get.
  - jschulenklopper 6y ago
    It does. Standard time is better aligned by circardian rhythm, per https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/10.5664/jcsm.8780 https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/10.5664/jcsm.8780
    - koheripbal 6y ago
      This assumes people wake up at a certain time of day. ...which is entirely arbitrary.
      - Wowfunhappy 6y ago
        It's not arbitrary, it's based on sunlight. The sun sets our mental clocks. This is why a lot of people advice against using screens late at night—because they contain a lot more blue light than regular household lights, and thus throw our bodies out of balance. But, those are still much smaller light sources than the sun!

jonny_eh 6y ago

> DST better aligns with most people's day schedules I don't understand how this can be true. If it's better for people to wake up an hour earlier or later, then do that. Who cares what the clock says?

quest88 6y ago
School / work / other obligations start at a time that would prevent people from sleeping an extra hour.
thayne 6y ago
> Who cares what the clock says? People whose schedules are dictated by another entity, such as a school or employer.
jfrankamp 6y ago
Yesterday my wife and kid were trying to go for a walk in the neighborhood before the light ended and the sun set. My work expects me to be callable until 5. I sent them out without me at 4, the sun sets here around 4:30. I never left the house. I would pay actual money to get that hour back and be on DST year round. I would be interested to see if the split of opinion on this has to do with early risers/night owl orientation primarily, for me more light earlier has almost no value, but light at the end of the work day is worth a lot.
- mac01021 6y ago
  > for me more light earlier has almost no value, but light at the end of the work day is worth a lot. I agree with this, but why wouldn't we stay on standard time and just all switch to starting school and work an hour earlier? It would achieve the same thing as permanent DST except it would also preserve the property of our time system that midnight and noon are the times that the sun is lowest and highest in the sky.
  - jfrankamp 6y ago
    Changing time is less expensive than billions of schedules. Noon at solar noon is already broken for so many people, I'm not sure it matters if its off a little more. I do find both equally arbitrary though.

lamontcg 6y ago

> DST better aligns with most people's day schedules I'd like to see that studied closely in light of the fact that 1 in 3 Americans suffers from chronic sleep deprivation. And just because people have earlier schedules doesn't mean that they operate well with earlier schedules -- and because society programs us for decades to wake up earlier and to view oversleeping as sloth just asking people what their preferred sleep schedule is may bias results. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that half the people in this thread who think they really want that hour of light at the end of the day wouldn't function much better if they got more sleep in the morning. There's also the asymmetry where people who are early risers want that extra hour of light in the evening -- at the cost of the late sleepers suffering chronic sleep deprivation and all the related health costs ("I want an extra hour of light, and you dying early of a heart attack is a small cost to pay for that").

koheripbal 6y ago
I'm confused as to why the alignment of the clock with the sun should cause sleep deprivation, aside from the transitional period. It does not impact when people choose to go to sleep, which is the biggest predictive factor in how much sleep they get.
- jschulenklopper 6y ago
  It does. Standard time is better aligned by circardian rhythm, per https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/10.5664/jcsm.8780 https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/10.5664/jcsm.8780
  - koheripbal 6y ago
    This assumes people wake up at a certain time of day. ...which is entirely arbitrary.
    - Wowfunhappy 6y ago
      It's not arbitrary, it's based on sunlight. The sun sets our mental clocks. This is why a lot of people advice against using screens late at night—because they contain a lot more blue light than regular household lights, and thus throw our bodies out of balance. But, those are still much smaller light sources than the sun!