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#  Time After Time: Keep Daylight Saving Time and Preserve Our Health!

March 09 2020

Written by Kenneth S. Alpern.

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**ALPERN AT LARGE**--Again, we lost an hour of sleep last Saturday night. So, while we're miserable in the morning, we're thrilled in the evenings with more light, productivity, and better spirits. Great...now let's KEEP things this way!

If you haven't already learned all this, the [following article](https://www.triviagenius.com/when-how-daylight-saving-time-begin/?utm_campaign=1081670905&utm_content=7357795&utm_term=1001425195) summarizes "When and How Did Daylight Saving Time begin".

To summarize the summary, did you know that:

1\) The first mention of Daylight Saving (not "Savings") Time was a satirical--not sincere--letter by the brilliant, innovative, and funny Benjamin Franklin in Paris in 1784. He also wrote about the bells in every church ringing to wake up the city, and cannons to be fired for heavy sleepers.

It was a...JOKE!

2\) Britain and Germany, over the next century and more, pursued Daylight Saving Time (DST) to enhance productivity and to conserve coal during the World War I effort. On April 30, 1916, Germany instituted the first "spring forward" time change.

Other countries saved fuel on artificial lighting during that war, including those on both sides of that terrible conflict.

3\) Farmers do NOT like DST because the cows do NOT wake up to alarm clocks! Cows wake up, and can be milked, by when the sun rises (in other words, gradually!). Farmers got the U.S. to end DST in 1919, after World War I ended.

Then along came World War II, and productivity became first and foremost in our priorities. We've done it for so long we probably don't know any other way of life.

Moving to the present day...

1\) [Losing sleep](https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/news/20191104/daylight-saving-time-bad-for-health-experts-claim) in the spring, particularly with the flu, Corona, and other viruses is just downright dangerous. Heart disease and neurological impacts are NOT to be taken lightly.

2\) Florida Senator Mark Rubio, and a host of state senates throughout the nation, and on both sides of the political divide, have [voted to end ](https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2020/03/05/daylight-saving-time-senator-wants-florida-to-locktheclock/)the twice-yearly clock changing.

It's anyone's guess as to whether President Trump, former Vice-President Joe Biden, or Senator Bernie Sanders will champion the cause of ending this disruptive, outdated, and unhealthy practice, but it can be theorized that they would gain a lot of political points if one or all of them did.

So, it's now Daylight Saving Time...let's KEEP IT THAT WAY, and let this last recent change be the final one ever to be utilized in our lives!

*(CityWatch Columnist, Kenneth S. Alpern, M.D, is a dermatologist who has served in clinics in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties, and is a proud husband and father to two cherished children and a wonderful wife. He was (termed out) also a Westside Village Zone Director and Board member of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC), previously co-chaired its Outreach Committee, and currently is Co-Chair of its MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure Committee and Vice-Chair of its Planning Committee. He was co-chair of the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee and chaired the nonprofit Transit Coalition and can be reached at* <Ken.Alpern@MarVista.org>. *He also co-chairs the grassroots Friends of the Green Line at* [*www.fogl.us*](http://www.fogl.us/)*. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Dr. Alpern.)*

*-CW*

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