Bye, Bye Daylight

Daylight Savings ended on Sunday, and so did our evening light. From now on, it will be dark both in the evening and in the morning. Most Alaskans will both go to work in the dark and come home in the dark; in fact, all of their free-time away from work will be in the dark. No more evening walks in the daylight - most Alaskans will now start spending their evenings in front of the TV. Why do Alaskans waste their daylight hours spending them at work?

I find this depressing because it does not have to be like this. I say move our work hours. Alaska should go on Daylight Savings for the entire year - just think if Alaska went on East Coast Standard Time; we'd always have evening light. And better yet, in the summer we'd at least still wake up in the dark. Think of the health benefits. Instead of killing time waiting to go to bed Alaskans would be able to spend some time outside after work. We'd still go to work in the dark, but what's the difference between going to work at 4 AM or 8 AM? In Alaska both are essentially '0 dark thirty'.

I bet if we did shift to Eastern Standard Time the health benefits would be dramatic - far less time spent on the couch, less alcohol, less comfort eating, less light deprived depression, and more exercise and time spent in the sun. This would equate to less obesity, less diabetes, less drug dependance, less depression, and would save Alaskan a lot on health care. What's stopping us from doing it? Patrick