Slow Time

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And so the long summer ends. Tonight, 48 of the 50 states set their clocks back to "slow time." (Arizona and Hawaii refuse to participate in this hokey game.) I'm one of those people who doesn't like Daylight Savings Time. It served a purpose during the Depression and the Second World War, when resources had to be conserved. We don't have that issue now, thanks to energy-saving appliances, solar and wind energy, and other things. Now, it seems, we observe Daylight Savings Time because of, as they sang in Fiddler on the Roof, tradition!!! Studies have shown that there are more accidents in the week after DST starts than any other non-holiday week in the year. There are also more illnesses, especially heart attacks. The human body needs sleep. Sleep deprivation is one of the most powerful methods of physical and psychological torture known to man. Here's what Scientific American said on the subject in 2008: "Studies show that such short-term sleep deprivation leads to a foggy brain, worsened vision, impaired driving, and trouble remembering. Long-term effects include obesity, insulin resistance, and heart disease. And most Americans suffer from chronic deprivation." What do we get in return? An "extra hour" of light in the evening, when we're too tired from the loss of sleep to do anything with it? If we all worked 9-5 it might be different; however, more Americans work a shift other than 9-5 than the people honored in the Dolly Parton song. And, as the American Indian comedian Terry Ree of the duo Williams and Ree says, "Daylight Savings Time is obviously a white man's invention. You white guys think you can cut an inch off the top of the blanket, sew it on the bottom, and make the blanket longer." I'd rather be on slow time all year long.