# Daylight Saving Time **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 1, 2017, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424 "2017-11-01T19:46:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424/81 "2017-11-07T04:03:44Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > That’s getting close to my plan, but not quite. Keep our time zones, but sunrise always at 6:30am, sunset always at 9:30pm in the center of each time zone. Time in between is divided into 15 daylight “hours” and 9 nighttime “hours”. A lot of places don’t have anywhere near 15 hours of daylight much of the year. Here, for example. It’s only November and we’re already at 10 hours of daylight. In mid-December it’ll be just shy of nine hours. If your plan involves mad scientists who can ensure 15 hours of daylight during the winter, though, count me in. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424/82 "2017-11-07T05:56:16Z")
The further towards the Poles you live, the more useful it is. If there was some way to keep it beyond the 45th parallel but not elsewhere, I’d probably be okay with that. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424/83 "2017-11-07T13:50:41Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > Absolutely not. Sunrise wouldn’t occur until nearly 9am in December and January. So sleep in or go to work like a normal person. Give me sunlight until late in the evening when I can actually use it! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2017, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424/84 "2017-11-08T15:05:48Z")
“Only the government would believe that if you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket, sew it to the bottom, and have a longer blanket.” I look at Daylight Saving Time as the Designated Hitter in Major League Baseball… I don’t care which one you choose; but let’s just pick one, and move on. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2017, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424/85 "2017-11-08T18:57:33Z")
> [@Enright3](#): > > “Only the government would believe that if you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket, sew it to the bottom, and have a longer blanket.” > 🙂 If your blanket was attached to your bed, and drifted up and down its length over the course of a year, don’t you think cutting a foot off the bottom and sewing it onto the top would help keep your shoulders warm in the winter? And vice versa to keep your toes warm in the summer? We don’t want a longer blanket, we just want it to cover the parts we need it to cover despite it moving around. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2017, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424/86 "2017-11-08T20:20:49Z")
DST in winter has been tried in the USA - I think in World War II, and definitely at some point in the 1970s because of the energy crisis at the time. The problem is, if there are still schools in the northern parts of the country - including New York - that start at 8 AM, then you send your kids out in the dark in the middle of winter, and they can’t just “start an hour later” as it would mess the parents’ schedules up. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2017, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424/87 "2017-11-08T23:00:20Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > OK, to all of those who don’t care if it’s dark out when they go to work, but want as much daylight as possible after they get off, why don’t we change the standard workday from 9 AM-5 PM to 11 PM-7 AM? Then you’d have _all_ the daylight after work. And yet, I doubt this idea will be very popular. Why so silly? 😛 Yeah, the extreme version of something is often worse. You’re not giving them enough dark time to get the good sleep (as our diurnal cycle requires). You’re asking them to go to bed at 3 PM to get 8 hours, which is usually not dark for anyone, any time of year. Adjusting your times to fix this seems pretty hard, too, given how late sunset can be. I know that, around here in July, the fireworks do not go out until after dark, and this is always after 9:30 PM CDT (so 8:30 PM CST). So now you’re just back to a fairly normal bedtime. Well, unless you want the day to change repeatedly throughout the year. (And, even then, you shouldn’t change wake times too much. It’s actually generally better to go ahead and wake up at the right time even if you got less sleep, to avoid messing up your diurnal cycle.) I’m not saying you couldn’t do it. I’m sure that, if you follow the 15 minutes and always earlier concept you could work it out. But it would just be for fun. No one will want to change things all the time, and a regular schedule will lead you pretty much to the same work schedule we currently have. * * * Also, I totally get it. If not for the lack of early morning light and SAD, I’d go for dark in the morning, too. I know myself: I will always eventually let the work schedule set my wake time. It’s my desire to sleep meeting an immovable object. So the question basically boils down to “Do I want as much daylight during my waking hours as possible, while still going to bed when its dark?” My answer would be yes. The only reason I care about the light is the SAD issue. Well that and if I actually had to drive a long distance in the dark: I agree that’s less than fun. But is that not also the SAD issue, even if it’s a lesser version? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2017, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424/88 "2017-11-08T23:04:24Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > If that’s what you want, move to Quito, Ecuador, or someplace else close to the equator. I just checked the sunrise times in Quito for December vs July, and the difference was only about fifteen minutes. Believe me, there are times when I wish I could. But I can’t even afford to move to a state with better healthcare. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2017, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424/89 "2017-11-08T23:16:50Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > DST in winter has been tried in the USA - I think in World War II, and definitely at some point in the 1970s because of the energy crisis at the time. > > The problem is, if there are still schools in the northern parts of the country - including New York - that start at 8 AM, then you send your kids out in the dark in the middle of winter, and they can’t just “start an hour later” as it would mess the parents’ schedules up. Here in the Pacific Northwest, the kids do indeed head out for school in the dark many days each Winter. I know for me, I’ll leave home for work in darkness and return in darkness for a few months. Only on weekends to I see daylight at my house. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424/90 "2017-11-09T17:48:21Z")
I voted “get rid of standard time”. I’d much rather drive to work in the dark than have the sun go down at 4:30. ---
**Author:** ![bizerta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@bizerta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizerta)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2017, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424/91 "2017-11-11T18:26:54Z")
Go with the Europeans: Last Sunday in March to last Sunday in October. ---
**Author:** ![CelticKnot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/celticknot/32/3392_2.png) [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2017, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424/92 "2017-11-12T04:09:39Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > The winter blues are a serious public health issue. > > I’ve suffered from malaise every winter for much of my adult life. > > Coming home from work in the dark makes it even worse. Full-spectrum lamps are a proven remedy for SAD. Buy some so the rest of the population doesn’t have to go through this hassle (and the resulting heart attacks) twice a year. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2017, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424/93 "2017-11-12T11:36:34Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Pick one and stick with it. Don’t care which one. This. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424.md?page=4)