This is one of my favorite weekends of the year: the weekend in which we change the clocks and begin Daylight Saving Time. (Do you notice the lack of an S at the end of Saving? That’s correct.)And maybe it’s just a coincidence, but I’ve noticed more stories about the havoc caused by DST than in years past. The New York Times had two stories over the weekend. The New Yorker had a long piece about activists who are trying to do away with time changes, and even the Naperville Sun got in on the action.All of these articles featured people who contend that DST (Daylight Saving Time. Come on, don’t make me type it every time) is the worst thing since before some genius discovered how to sell sliced bread.DST haters have plenty of arguments against it. The New Yorker article claims, “Both transitions wreak havoc. Scientists have found that, on the Monday after daylight saving starts, heart attacks and traffic accidents are more numerous, judges dole out harsher sentences, and employees are more likely to ‘cyberloaf’ on the Internet.”There’s no link in the article to support such claims, but it doesn’t matter. I don’t need a link. Whether substantiated or not, my response to DST haters would be the same.Get over it!Don’t let a one-hour time change throw you off so easily. I mean it’s not like we’re shifting the clock by five hours or something. If today we suddenly expected you to go to bed when twenty-four hours earlier you were eating dinner, then I’d have some sympathy for your complaint. But changing the time by an hour shouldn’t “wreak havoc” as The New Yorker claims.It’s probably too late for this year, since the time change has already happened, but let me guide you through the drastic, life-shifting, havoc inducing shift of sixty minutes. Print this out and you can use it for next year. Then, if it works, maybe you can help make it go viral. And then, after everyone comes to terms with having a twenty-three hour day once a year, we can tackle less important problems like health insurance and terrorism.First, keep in mind that DST begins on the second Sunday it March. That way you wont be surprised. Second, just because it officially begins on Sunday, doesn’t mean that you can’t prepare early. So Saturday night, when you’re ready for bed, do something crazy and stay up for another hour. Live a little.So instead of going to bed at ten, go wild and stay up until eleven. But if you planned on getting up at seven, still get up at seven. Perhaps you’ll be a little tired, but I suspect you’ll survive. Then, live the day. Sunday night go to bed when you feel tired. Sleep. I bet you wake up Monday. And I bet the problem is solved.Some of you probably have children and the time change wreaks havoc with your children.But guess what, they’ll survive, too! Most children’s sleep schedule is probably messed up on Christmas Eve, yet they somehow manage to have a perfectly delightful day the next day.However, in case you need a plan to help your children deal with the change, try this. When they wake up on Sunday, play with them. Engage them. Take them outside. Make them run around. Play games. Do new things. Make them use their minds and bodies so intensely that by evening they’re asking to go to bed. Maybe they get an extra hour of sleep since they’re so wiped out.Then, the next day, wake them up and live.Whatever we do, let’s just stop complaining about the time change. It’s an hour. Sixty minutes. It’s not a big deal. And this summer, when it’s almost nine o’clock at night and there’s still sunlight, you’ll be happy that you endured such hardship back in March.Yes, humans like predictability and routine and blah, blah, blah, but we’re also adaptable. If we can adapt to survive the Western diet, then surely we can survive a time change. If you can’t, then I strongly suggest that you refrain from traveling, because—newsflash—different places have different times.The amount that you worry about the time change is much worse for you than the time change itself.Take a deep breath. Relax. You’ll be just fine.Wasn't that well-written and fun to read? You should subscribe to my blog and we'll send you an e-mail every time I write a new one. Type your email address in the box and click the "create subscription" button. My list is completely spam free, and you can opt out at any time.
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