Daylight saving time
comes to an end each fall,
at a time when the hours of
available sunlight already
are beginning to decline.
Some people are more
accustomed to darkness
than others. Norwegians,
Swedes and people living
in Alaska and the upper
reaches of Canada near or
above the Arctic Circle may
COPING WITH FEWER HOURS
Make daylight hours count. Spend time outdoors while
the sun is bright in the sky. Make an effort to switch your
schedule if work interferes with getting outdoors, even if
all that can be managed is an outdoor walk at lunch. Sit by
a bright window and soak up rays whenever possible.
go through a period when
winters can be especially
dark. Fairbanks, Alaska,
gets just three hours and
42 minutes of sunlight on
the winter solstice. Those
in Barrow, Alaska, will
endure a period of 67 days
of darkness, according
to Alaska.org. Residents
of Seattle, which is even
further north than cities
such as Fargo, North
Dakota, or Portland,
Maine, deal with more
darkness than those living
outside the city may know.
Although much of the rest
of North America doesn’t
experience such profound
periods of darkness,
when the darkness of fall
and winter arrives, it can
be diffi cult to maintain
a positive outlook.
Borrowing some of the
coping mechanisms relied
on in northern latitudes can
help many people to see
the dark in a different light.
• Be aware of SAD.
Seasonal affective
disorder, or SAD, is
defi ned by the Mayo Clinic
as a type of depression
that’s related to changes
in seasons, beginning
and ending at about the
same times each year.
Symptoms tend to start in
the fall and continue into
the winter, sapping energy
and making a person feel
moody. As with other types
of depression, SAD can get
worse and lead to severe
problems if left untreated.
Light treatment, talk
therapy and medication
can help people who are
susceptible to SAD.
• Make daylight hours
count. Spend time outdoors
while the sun is bright in
the sky. Make an effort
to switch your schedule
if work interferes with
getting outdoors, even if
all that can be managed is
an outdoor walk at lunch.
Sit by a bright window
and soak up rays whenever
possible.
• Celebrate winter
activities. Go skiing,
snowboarding, outdoor ice
skating, or snowshoeing.
Look forward to winter for
what can be done, rather
than what can’t.
• Socialize more often.
Instead of holing up
indoors alone, frequent
OF DAYLIGHT
the places that become
indoor gathering spots for
locals. These can include
coffee houses, breweries,
restaurants, or even the
local church. Plan more
social occasions with
friends and families so
everyone can collectively
shoo away the winter
blues.
• Exercise more. Use the
darker hours as an excuse
to exercise more, be it at the
gym or outside. The Mayo
Clinic says that exercise
and other types of physical
activity can relieve anxiety
and depression, lifting an
individual’s mood as a
result.
• Light a fi re. Set the
kindling ablaze in a fi re pit,
fi replace or woodburning
stove, or just light a
handful of candles. Flames
can be soothing and less
harsh on the eyes than
artifi cial light.
Fall and winter darkness
does not have to send a
person into the doldrums
if he or she embraces the
right attitude.
WHAT IS DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME
Daylight saving time (DST), also
daylight savings time or daylight
time (United States) and
summer time (United Kingdom,
European Union, and others), is
the practice of advancing clocks
during summer months so that
darkness falls later each day
according to the clock. A common
implementation of DST is
to advance clocks by one hour
in the spring (“spring forward”)
and retard clocks by one hour in
autumn (“fall back”) to return to
standard time. In other words,
there is one 23-hour day in the
spring and one 25-hour day in
the fall.
George Hudson proposed the
idea of daylight saving in 1895.
[3] The German Empire and
Austria-Hungary organized the
fi rst nationwide implementation
starting on April 30, 1916.
Many countries have used it at
various times since then, particularly
since the 1970s energy
crisis. DST is generally
not observed near the equator,
where sunrise times do not vary
enough to justify it. Some countries
observe it only in some
regions; for example, parts of
Australia observe it, while other
parts do not.[4] Only a minority
of the world’s population uses
DST; Asia and Africa generally
do not observe it.
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