What if you didn’t ‘lose’ an hour, but simply ‘banked’ it for the fall.
Language can make a big difference in our stress levels. How we perceive challenges in life – even for the simple ones – is influenced by the words we choose and the complaints we articulate. Apparently Day Light Savings time is an irritation for many. The complaints are out in full force.
According to an article on Business Insider, the incidents of heart attacks, strokes, and fatal car crashes all spike around the start of DST.
This is a problem.
The question I pose is how much of these statistics are related to the actual change in sleep timing – and how much is created by the anger, frustration, and other negative juju that surrounds the topic. Losing an hour of sleep is one more unhealthy issue stacked on many other unhealthy issues. It’s one more nail in the coffin as the saying goes.
Sleep is important, so I get that losing an hour can make people grumpy and can hurt the biological rhythms. If I believed people were THAT committed to consistent, quality sleep, maybe I’d buy into that being an issue more. Most people want great sleep, but don’t do the work to get it.
The way I look at DST is this:
➡️ DST is a thing that just ‘is.’ Unless I’m passionate enough about the topic to advocate to change it (and I’m not), I will offer it very little of my mental, emotional or physical capacity.
➡️ Anytime spent complaining about the ‘lost’ hour is wasted breath that brings negativity into my sphere – and protecting myself from unnecessary negativity is something I work hard to do!
➡️ There are real issues in our world that deserve our attention. Not that sleep isn’t one of them – it is – but do you ever wonder if the frustrations about DST are yet another misdirected outlet for the lack of emotional regulation and overwhelm people are feeling.
Extra biological stress on one day should not lead to an increase in heart attacks. A consistent habit of overwhelming, destructive stress with one more stick loaded onto the fire – will.
Like most issues in life – it’s the long game that counts, not the short blips.
