I was surprised last week when reading a post on the Huffington Post's Living Section about daylight savings time that many people in the comments section were not fans. They complained about how it was so dark in the mornings now, about losing an extra hour of sleep, of how they didn't need that extra hour of light tacked on at the end of the day. I couldn't disagree more!I look forward to 'springing forward' and putting the clocks one hour ahead from the moment we put the clocks back in November.
Psychologically, turning the clocks back in November really affects me. It's hard to look outside the window around 5 pm and have it already be dark. Somehow I always think of the days as being a lot more difficult to get through when they get dark so early, which is actually kind of odd because you could argue that it's easier to get through a day when it appears to end sooner. Either way, I always feel this undeniable sense of relief when I turn the clocks forward in March. I've made it through another winter, another period of dark days and cold weather, and for the foreseeable future it's bright days ahead. It's a really great feeling, and a feeling that easily gets me through those first few mornings when it's tough to lose out on an hour of sleep.
In early March, so before the clocks had changed, I came upon this recording of a cool radio segment about a woman who had spent one year in Antarctica - from September to March there was 24 hours of daylight, and from March to September 24 hours of darkness. She described how she suffered from a hormonal imbalance called T3 syndrome (which is caused by lack of light) during the long winter. She said her brain literally slowed down and stopped working as well. But on the flip side, she talked about how amazing it was to step outside in the middle of the afternoon and see a dark sky full of stars. She said seeing both the moon and planet Mars were especially fabulous; and that it seemed like Mars was shining extra bright just for her. I listened to the radio segment twice because I liked it so much. And while I would have to be paid millions of dollars to even consider spending an entire winter in Antarctica, I do have to admit that seeing the stars and Mars and the moon in the middle of the afternoon would be incredible. Even on the darkest day of winter here, I can never see stars as soon as it gets dark.
It's interesting that the majority of those Huffington Post commentators seemed to want lightness in the morning as opposed to at night. Even though I tend to usually get up fairly early, I would always much rather have the extra hour of light at the end of the day. It's nice to have brightness outside for longer; you can leave your lights off for longer, can walk home in daylight at 7 pm... Although over this past fall and winter I've realized how pleasant it is to wake up to/with natural sunlight. My bedroom in my apt in Austin last year was so dark. I always kept the blinds closed as the windows opened onto the outdoor hallway, which other people in the apt complex walked on everyday. I spent as much time as I could in the rest of my apt, really only going into my bedroom to sleep. My bedroom in Toronto, however, has three windows. I keep the curtains open all the time on two of them and I get so much natural light. The mornings that I do sleep in and wake up when it's already bright are really lovely; it feels as though the light is gently lulling me awake. I am determined that wherever I live next year, my bedroom must have an abundance of natural light. Until then, I am going to enjoy springing forward into longer and brighter days.
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