Yawn. I can never get it right. When you change back from Daylight Saving Time, is it fall forward or spring backward? On this first Monday evening of Daylight Standard Time, somehow my body knows it is later than I think. Mmm. But on Saturday night, I had an extra hour of sleep, so why do I have Daylight Saving lag?
Wiki tells us that although Ben Franklin suggested Daylight Saving Time, no one gave it much thought. Prior to communications and train schedules, people were not clock watchers. According to Wiki, entomologist George Vernon Hudson was the first to propose the idea after Franklin. Hudson actually proposed a 2-hour time change, rather than the 1-hour many of us experience today.
Circadian rhythm explains that tests have shown the natural biological clock for most humans is a surprisingly consistent 24 hours, 11 minutes, plus or minus 16 minutes. Perhaps counter-intuitively, Jet Lag tells that west to east travel is more disruptive than vice-versa. The reason is because our circadian rhythm is slightly longer than 24 hours, it is easier to stay up later than to get up later.
Daylight Saving Time 2009 gives some advice on adapting to a new time reference. Nothing unexpected - drink tea late in the day instead of coffee, and breathe deep. Mmm - everytime I hear those two words, I think of the Moody Blues, "Breathe deep the gathering gloom, Watch lights fade from every room, Bedsitter people look back and lament." Remember Nights in White Satin? Okay, Tomorrow is another day.
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