![\"spring](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/766\/2015\/11\/spring-forward.png\")
<\/a>I\u2019m going out on a limb here\u2014way out. I like time changes. This year Daylight Savings time began on March 13, shifting the clock to provide an extra hour of light in the evening and ended ten days ago on November 6, with the shift providing an extra hour of light in the morning. I have lived most of my life in the northern latitudes where, once DST ends and we change to standard time, it starts getting dark before 5:00, with nightfall earlier each day as we inch toward the winter solstice. I like that. I like falling back (and the extra hour of sleep once a year) and also, for entirely different reasons, I appreciate springing forward on the night DST begins (even though I lose an hour of sleep that night), because it is the harbinger of summer evenings when it will be light until close to 10:00. Perhaps because I come from stoic Swedish stock, ![\"swedish](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/766\/2015\/11\/swedish-chef.jpg\")
<\/a>I don\u2019t recall anyone in my family or our friends complaining about DST in my youth\u2014it\u2019s just something that happened, sometimes producing humorous situations such as the people who showed up for Easter Sunday services two hours late one year when the change to DST happened to fall on Easter; they turned their clocks back an hour instead of ahead. Spring forward<\/strong> and fall back<\/strong>, morons!<\/p>\nOver the past year or so, I\u2019ve noticed a marked spike compared to previous years in the number of people complaining about DST and the inconvenience of twice-per-year hourly shifts. The complaints haven\u2019t been just about inconvenience or because someone forgot and was an hour early for a meeting or for church\u2014for the first time I learned that for some people the spring and fall time changes are among the most disruptive events of the year. After reading one person proclaim that \u201cDST is total bullshit\u201d and another post that \u201cIt\u2019s the twice-yearly jet lag and sleep disruption that is so hateful,\u201d I thought that perhaps a voice of reason needed to inserted into the discussion. Minor sleep disruption, yes (although one extra hour of sleep is hardly disruptive), but jet lag? Hateful?<\/strong>What, do you get jet lag flying from New York to Chicago? Please. So I innocently posted \u201c In short order I was informed that if I was not \u201cphysically afflicted\u201d by the time change, I was not only lucky but also was \u201cvery rare.\u201d Now I have no problem with being very rare (when I ate beef, that\u2019s how I ordered my steak), but in this case I got the impression I was being called \u201cvery rare\u201d as in \u201cmutant\u201d or \u201cnon-human.\u201d I responded that I have an extensive network of family and friends (a bit of an exaggeration) and knew of only two who claimed to be bothered in any way by one-hour time changes, to which I received \u201cWhereas I have only a couple who claim they don\u2019t.\u201d One of us is clearly full of shit\u2014and it was on.<\/p>\n I posted the following on my timeline: A quick informal poll for my Facebook acquaintances\u2013how many of you suffer from sleep deprivation, jet lag-like symptoms, or other such maladies because of the twice per year time changes? I don\u2019t, but from what I read and hear many people do. How about you?<\/strong><\/p>\nTo be honest, I\u2019ve never understood how a mere one hour difference can be such a source of disruption, dismay, and angst for so many people.\u201d Boy, was that a mistake.<\/p>\n