It’s that time of year where we all have to figure out how to change our car clocks again, but the same things happen every year…
Now if you didn’t know how this all started, we can blame a gentleman named William Willett, not Benjamin Franklin as most people think. Good old Will first came up with the idea in the 1700’s because he wanted to be able to get up an hour earlier for a horse ride around London before it got ‘busy’, and not be in the dark, so cheers Will! But to be fair to him, we didn’t actually adopt the practice until during the Second World War to help conserve energy and resources.
So now we are at that time of year where we have to change the clocks and lose an hours sleep. Now in the grand scheme of things my brain says, logically it’s only an hour, it doesn’t make that much difference, but my brain is lying. It makes a big difference to the amount I moan at everyone for not getting enough sleep, for about a week afterwards.
every year the same things happen when the clocks go back, it’s inevitable, do you recognise any of these?
1. You worry your phone won’t automatically change, like they all do. So you end up using Google to find out, still not believing in it and setting another alarm just in case your phone is the only one in the world that won’t change.
2. Your parents become obsessed with telling you when the clocks change (every year without fail my mum texts me to tell me, and it’s generally the only reason I actually know)
3. You will forget to change the clock in your car for months – oh well it’s right for 6 months out the year.
4. You struggle to remember the saying “spring forward, fall back” – because we aren’t American and it’s called autumn.
5. Your tummy doesn’t understand that clocks have changed and grumbles away, a lot! How is it possibly another hour until lunch? (although mine grumbles ALL day anyway)
How many of these happen to you? Hawaii, Pueto Rico and Arizona State don’t have daylight saving, because I guess they don’t need to get up earlier for more sun, another reason to move to Hawaii (apart from being able to see the Hawaii Five- O show!). There are some adverse side effects to the clocks changing, there is a high risk of car accidents and workplace injuries so please be careful guys! There are also major cases of cyberloafing (you’re probably doing it now) by fatigued workers, and not to mention everyone is in a bad mood from losing an hour sleep – like me.
However, it does mean that we get an extra hour in the afternoon to be able to do whatever we want with without being in the dark. Like going out for a walk on the beach, or playing a round of golf, or like me you could pop to a spa and have a lovely treatment or get your nails done, perfect way to relax!
So good and bad points to the clocks changing – just bare with me while my mood adjusts to this new sleeping schedule, after a few coffees I’ll be back to normal!
Be Safe, Enjoy Sleep and Happy Extra Hour Adventuring!