Why Daylight Savings Goes Against Our Natural Rhythm

It's making us tired, stressed and sick

Hi lovely reader 👋

First of all, if you're new here, my name is Sophie. I’m on a journey to slow down, reconnect with nature, and live more intentionally. After moving off-grid, I’m sharing lessons on rewilding, simplicity, and finding balance in a busy world, without any of the fluff.

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George Hudson was a New Zealand Entomologist born in Britain in 1865. He loved insects so much that by the age of 13, he had already built up an incredible collection and had published a paper in The Entomologist, a British publication. His obsession with insects and bugs meant that he wanted to spend every waking hour doing what he enjoyed. And of course, what do you do when you also have to go to work and that’s getting in the way of your ability to enjoy your hobby? Yes, that’s right, you propose that the entire country shift their clocks two hours back so you have more time after work to enjoy daylight.

He presented a paper in 1895, which gained considerable interest. He argued that “such a shift, would make use of early morning daylight for work and open up a long period of daylight leisure in the evening for cricket, gardening, cycling or any other outdoor pursuit desired. As well as saving on the use of artificial light, the switch would especially benefit the numerous classes who are obliged to work indoors all day, and who, under existing arrangements, get a minimum of fresh air and sunshine."¹

However, it would be quite a few more years until Daylight Savings Time came into effect. The first country to introduce Daylight Savings was Germany, in an effort to conserve fuel and coal during wartime. Whether there really was much fuel and coal saved due to the Daylight Savings time is heavily debated. But still, many countries followed suit and in 1927 New Zealand also introduced Daylight Savings Time.

Now, why did I go down a rabbit hole about the history of Daylight Savings Time?

Because, dear reader, the end of Daylight Savings Time arrived in New Zealand on the 6th of April.

In the lead-up to the 6th of April I had noticed the days were getting shorter. In the mornings when I woke up, the sun wasn’t shining through the high pine trees yet. Our evenings were getting darker and of course, naturally, my body was noticing this. As the sky grew darker and the moon appeared up high, my body started sending me signals that it was time to go to bed - a little earlier each day.

And this is normal, completely normal even. As winter is approaching this is traditionally a time where our bodies take a break and we all slow down just a little, after what has been a busy and productive summer. This is how the seasons go in nature - the earth slows down and so do we.

But here’s the problem: just as our bodies start adjusting to these natural cues, the changing of the clocks forces us to ignore them. Instead of gradually settling into winter’s rhythm, we’re suddenly jolted into a new schedule overnight. Someone decided many years ago that the changing seasons were inconvenient and that we should just override millions of years of adaptation to nature’s rhythm. Our internal clocks are thrown out of sync, leading to groggy mornings and restless nights. Back at work after Daylight Savings Time had ended, more than a few of my colleagues reported feeling exhausted. It’s like a mini-jetlag that takes a couple of days to get over.

And I’m not alone in feeling this way. Studies have shown that abrupt changes to our circadian rhythm, like those caused by Daylight Savings, can have real measurable negative effects. Increased rates of heart attacks, strokes, and accidents have been linked to the sudden shift in time. It’s no coincidence that people report feeling more irritable, less focused, and generally “off”. We know that disrupted sleep leads to poorer mental health, and yet, we still change our clocks twice a year.

Every year around this time, more and more conversations happen, questioning whether now is the right time to reconsider whether Daylight Savings Time still serves us. I understand George Hudson wanted more sunlight after work, don’t we all? But maybe we should rethink this. Instead of forcing ourselves into an outdated system, maybe we should allow our bodies to follow the gentle, logical rhythm of the seasons. Because nature, unlike the clock on the wall, always gets the timing just right.

Something that inspired me this week:

I really enjoyed reading this article by

Dr. Wendy Pabich

: Ichi-go Ichi-e: Why Intentional Gatherings Matter Now More Than Ever. She talks about why it’s more important now than ever to come together and stand up for what we believe in. This passage I felt was particularly interesting:

She goes on to point to the 3.5% rule—a familiar rule but fully worth revisiting today. The concept stems from research by Erica Chenoweth, a political scientist at Harvard University, who by evaluating hundreds of nonviolent campaigns around the globe over the last century, was able to document that nonviolent campaigns are twice as likely as violent campaigns to achieve their goals. Further, there is a tipping point: when around 3.5% of the population actively participates in protests, serious political reform is almost guaranteed. This was true of the successes of the People Power movement against the Marcos regime in the Philippines, the Singing Revolution in Estonia in the late 1980s, and the Rose Revolution in Georgia in the early 2003.

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1. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240308-how-first-suggestions-of-daylight-savings-time-was-inspired-by-insects