By Paul Jordan Jr.
This Sunday marks the start of daylight-saving time, so don''t forget to set your clocks ahead one hour.
One of the biggest reasons for the implementation of daylight-saving time is to save energy. Energy use and the demand for electricity are directly related to when people go to bed.
Len Novilla, an associate professor in the Department of Health Science at BYU, said the effects of daylight time on health are both positive and negative.
Novilla said people who suffer from depression might benefit from the time change because the switch encourages people to start their days earlier and adds an hour of sunlight to the day.
There''s a safety reason to observe daylight savings time. Research conducted by Susan A. Ferguson, a highway safety research analyst, and published in the American Journal of Public Health showed motor vehicle crashes resulting in pedestrian and vehicle occupant fatalities decrease during daylight-saving time.
On the other hand, a common physical downside to the time shift is the interruption of sleep patterns.
' has an affect on our internal clock, and can be disrupted, even by an hour,' Novilla said.
Patrick Steffen, an associate professor in BYU''s Department of Psychology, said the daylight time change is comparable to jet lag. Losing even one hour can hinder student''s performance.
'In general, students that lack sleep don''t pay attention in class,' he said.
Steffen knows a particular student in one of his courses works long hours and doesn''t get much sleep. The other day Steffen said he noticed this student struggling to stay awake in the back of the class.
'I don''t think he caught much of the lecture,' he said.
Certain steps can be taken to minimize the negative consequences of the time shift.
Some suggestions from the National sleep foundation are slowly going to bed earlier, exercising regularly and making sure your bedroom is dark and quiet.
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 established the days and hours of daylight time''s clock changes. Clocks are set an hour ahead beginning the second Sunday of March and lose an hour the first Sunday of November.
The practice of changing the clocks began with the Standard Time Act in 1918. A year later, it was repealed and not implemented again nationally until World Ward II. When the war ended, daylight time use varied from state to state.
The Uniform Time Act of 1966 standardized the dates of daylight time as the last Sunday in April and the last Sunday in October. An energy crisis led Congress to move daylight-saving time to early January in 1974, then to late February in 1975. Starting the next year the clocks changed on the last Sunday in April and remained that way for 10 years.
In 1986, a law changed the time shift to begin the first Sunday in April where it remained until the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
Daylight-Savings Time
Ways to minimize the negative effects of the daylight-savings time change:
* Sleep more before and after the time change
* Go to sleep and wake up 20 minutes earlier for each of the three days before the change
* Establish a regular sleeping and waking schedule
* Exercise regularly, best if done a few hours before sleeping
* Try a relaxing routine before bedtime
* Sleep in a room that is dark, quiet, comfortable and cool
Source: The National Sleep Foundation, www.sleepfoundation.org