“Almost all our metabolism is controlled by our circadian clock and to synchronise that circadian clock you need bright light in the morning,” Frederic Gachon, from the University of Queensland’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience, said.
“It’s proven that waking up in the dark for kids is bad … it affects your capacity to concentrate, to learn.”
Blayney farmer Rebecca Price, with her husband David, wishes daylight savings was shorter. Credit: Wolter Peeters
The transition into and out of daylight saving was also linked with an increase in heart attacks and car accidents, he said.
“All the advice from the sleep societies and so on is to abolish the daylight savings time and to permanently move to standard time, which is a more natural time.”
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Blayney cattle farmer Rebecca Price said that 16 years of forcing children out of bed in the morning had made her loathe extended daylight saving.
“You’ve got to get them out the door, otherwise the [school] bus has been missed, and they’re so tired, especially when they’re younger. It’s pretty hard to drag them out of bed, and they’re tired for the day.”
She said daylight saving made sense in summer, when it gave farmers extra time with their children in the afternoon, but once the days became shorter, the benefit was lost.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous. You’re waking up and it’s still dark, and as the days get colder – as they do in the Central West come autumn – there’s no benefit … it doesn’t help us, our families or our farming enterprise at all.”
Source Agencies
