Do We Really Benefit From Time Changes

There has been a lot of negative feedback on the ill effects of our two yearly time changes, and several states are considering a law to stop them.

Time zones and the establishment of daylight savings time started in 1918, but was repealed by the farmers in 1919.

States choose their own time zones until the uniform time act was established in 1966.

The debate considers if this time-switch does save energy, but along the way we've seen signs that it has negative effects on our health and the economy.

During the first week of DST in the late winter there's a spike in heart attacks, according to a study in the the American Journal of Cardiology, that's because losing an hour of sleep increases stress and provides less time to recover overnight.

However the opposite is true when we gain an extra hour of sleep. The end of daylight saving time causes a decrease in heart attacks.

According to a 2009 study accidents at work happen more often and are more severe after springing forward.

The theory behind this suggests that having just lost one hour sleep, it becomes more difficult to wake up, our biological clocks adjust by using the light and suddenly the tiem changes which confuses our body.

Another big debate is the lack of impact it actually has on the economy and how much energy we save in the process, a 2007 report from the California Energy Commission showed that DST had essentially no effect on the state's energy consumption. And a study in Indiana showed that DST actually increased energy demand, presumably because of an increased need for air conditioning.

States that are in favor of dropping the time changes include California, Alaska, Florida, Kansas, Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Washington and Wyoming

One more noteworthy point on thsi whole time change issue States can exempt themselves from DST ,Hawaii and Arizona already do ,but changing time zones requires federal approval.

I know we have a lot of other issues in this country but this subject seems ton come up twice each year and some where down the line it will need to be addressed in congress.

Until then we'll continue to walk through our homes and office twice each year adjusting our clocks.