Gary Smith: Does anybody really know ...?

Does Ben Franklin’s idea stand test of time?

It's spring, and while it's been so long I'm not quite sure what a young man's thoughts turn to, mine turn to my favorite bi-annual whipping boy: daylight saving time.

Yeah, I know. I complained about this last fall as well. I'm nothing if not consistent. But this time, I've got actual research on my side.

Not that I need it. The idea that, for no apparent reason, we're just all supposed to up and decide it's actually an hour earlier or later that it was a minute ago has always seemed just plain goofy to me. It's also tough to defend an occurrence that leaves us all tired, groggy and sleep-deprived: sort of all the results of a weekend-long bender without any of the fun run-up.

The fact that it's hard to find anyone in favor of suddenly being even less aware of what time it is makes me wonder if the only thing keeping us all from revolting is we're too tired to riot and we can't agree on what time to start, mostly because we don't really know what time it is.

Yet there I and most of America were last Sunday, running from timepiece to timepiece trying to live up to the governmental mandate that our clocks be right more than twice a day.

Then there are the minor but very real frustrations that result from trying to remember how to change the time on your automobile (got that done, but for some reason, our speed is now being measure in kilometers per hour) and all my watches (also done, except all my watches agree on the time, but think it's any day from the 13th to the 30th and any month from February to July).

Of course, mine didn't appear to be the only case of large-scale uncertainty. Owing to the current weather map, it appears Mother Nature got confused as to the event and determined that daylight saving time had returned and seen its shadow, resulting in 12 more weeks of winter.

But don't take my word for it (and why, exactly, would you when I don't even know what time it is and think I've driving on the Autobahn?). Now it appears I'm backed by science. According to people who study sleep and resultant disorders (I guess studying paint drying was already taken), turning the clock ahead can be responsible for all sorts of unpleasant things.

They range from the sort of bad (teens are more tired and irritable, though those specific results may be hard to distinguish from normal behavior) to not really great (uptick in cluster headaches, which I've never had but which certainly don't sound fun) to downright awful (apparently there are spikes in the number of heart attacks and strokes right after the spring change).

Researchers also report increases in "cyberloafing," using the Internet for personal stuff while pretending to work, right after daylight saving time kicks in. Of course, DST typically coincides with the NCAA Basketball tournament bracket time, so, maybe not so related.

With all of this going against it, what, exactly, does daylight saving time have to recommend it? Well, I do have more time to walk the dog (although he seemed quite happy looking for his lost tennis ball, only to suddenly remember he's holding it in his mouth).

You could squeeze in a few more activities after work. Of course, one has to wonder if we really need all this trouble just to give you more time to mow the lawn. And since most of us just want to go home after a long day on the job and relax on the sofa, it does seem like a lot of trouble to go to just we can operate on the knowledge that if we happened to look outside, we'd see the sun is still shining.

This is also a precursor for knowing that I'm going to trade going to work in a brilliant Arkansas dawn for sweltering in the blazing sun in traffic on the way home this July.

Look, to some degree I get it: More sun means more time for golf (though whether that's a good thing or a bad thing depends on if your snap-hooked tee shot hit a tree and bounced back into the fairway or kept heading into Black Forest territory).

And even if that's not your thing, you can probably spend more time with the family. Whether that's worth, potentially, a stroke or heart attack depends, I suppose, on the family.

Daylight saving time: the gift that keeps giving, even if you don't want the present.

Commentary on 03/17/2017

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