Column: The sun wasn’t wrong
I have never cared for daylight saving time, and the longer I live with it the less sense it makes. I can manage being in the Eastern Time Zone, even though much of Indiana naturally fits closer to Central Time. But when daylight saving time is added on top of that, the clock drifts even farther away from what the sun is actually doing. By the time we “spring forward,” we are effectively living about two hours ahead of natural solar time.
The body notices that shift whether the clock admits it or not.
We run on what scientists call a circadian rhythm, an internal clock that responds mainly to light and darkness. Sunlight in the morning signals the brain to reduce melatonin and increase alertness. Darkness in the evening signals the body to prepare for sleep. When the timing of light shifts suddenly, the body does not adjust instantly.
That is one reason many people experience a kind of mild jet lag after the spring clock change. Studies have found that people tend to lose sleep in the days following the shift, and some research has even noted temporary increases in accidents and heart attacks immediately afterward. The body eventually adapts, but it takes time.
My own rhythm has never paid much attention to the clock anyway. I tend to wake up about the same time regardless of what the dial says. When daylight comes earlier in the morning, that works out well. Years ago, before the clock was pushed so far ahead in the summer, we would begin to see daylight close to 4:30 in the morning as the summer solstice approached. That might sound early to some people, but I always appreciated it.
Those early hours created a quiet window in the day. There was light enough to work in the garden, go fishing, take a walk, or simply enjoy the morning before the rest of the world got wound up tight. Traffic had not started yet. People were not rushing to work. The roads were still, and the air felt different.
That peaceful daylight has largely disappeared. When the clock is pushed forward an hour for daylight saving time, and we are already sitting an hour ahead because of the time zone, the morning light arrives much later by the clock. Instead of daylight appearing before the workday begins, it now arrives when people are already driving to work or settling into their jobs. The quiet daylight hours get swallowed by the busiest part of the day.
Meanwhile the opposite happens in the evening. Instead of the day naturally winding down as darkness approaches, daylight stretches far into the evening. People stay busy longer, chores stretch later, and bedtime drifts further away. Scientists have long observed that light in the evening delays the body’s circadian clock, pushing sleep later into the night. Light after sunset slows the release of melatonin, the hormone that helps the body prepare for sleep. When people still have to wake early for work or school, that often means they simply get less sleep.
When I was still working full time, I started my workdays earlier in an effort to avoid the heaviest traffic, and I often left work earlier for the same reason. It may have helped with traffic, but it cost me sleep. Trying to go to bed early enough to make that schedule work often meant trying to fall asleep before it was even dark outside, and that rarely works very well.
The long evenings also shift activity and noise later into the night. Fireworks are a good example. There is a big difference between fireworks going off at nine in the evening and fireworks going off at eleven. When darkness comes late, everything else gets pushed later with it. When that kind of noise stretches late into the night, it becomes especially hard on people who still have to get up early the next morning for work, leaving them even more sleep deprived.
Not that long ago, people could estimate the time of day simply by looking at the sun. Anyone who worked outdoors had a good sense of where the sun should be in the sky at different hours. When it stood high overhead, it was about noon. The clock and the sun usually agreed with each other.
None of this is the fault of the sun. It is what happens when the clock stops matching the natural day.
If time followed the sun more closely, much of Indiana would likely fall into the Central Time Zone. In that case, noon would occur closer to when the sun actually stands high overhead. Morning light would arrive earlier by the clock, and evening darkness would come a bit sooner.
For people who enjoy early mornings, work outdoors, or simply appreciate the quiet of the day before the world gets moving, that alignment matters.
In recent years even sleep researchers have questioned the value of changing the clocks twice a year. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has recommended eliminating the seasonal time changes and adopting permanent standard time because it better aligns with human circadian biology. Yet the debate continues largely because longer evening daylight is often seen as beneficial for retail activity, recreation, and tourism. In other words, the clock is frequently adjusted for economic convenience even when it does not align well with human biology.
The sun has always kept the most reliable time we have. Sometimes it seems like life might be a little simpler and healthier if we just let it.
Victor Shelton is a retired agronomist and grazing specialist with special interest in conservation, ecology, wildlife, animal science, gardening, and rural life. He writes for several publications from his home in SW Indiana.
