I’m now in my 40s, and I’m finding that I’m becoming less and less tolerant of disruptions in my routine.

Yes, flexibility is still necessary in a lifestyle that requires I run my kids around every which way, but I’m feeling more frustrated when my routine becomes jarred.

We were all again shaken up last Sunday with the return of daylight saving time. It brought more sunlight in the evening, less sunlight in the morning, and took away an hour of the weekend. It made many homes with school-aged kids a challenging place to be Monday, as every March, there appears to be a mass-tiring effect on our society.

I love getting home and having sunshine for a little bit longer, but I wonder, why do we even go through this, and is it necessary in 2024?

According to USA Today, daylight saving time began as a way to extend daytime working hours and conserve energy during World War II. In 2007, the federal government expanded daylight saving time in order to reduce energy consumption.

In recent years, many are pushing back on the disruption of the yearly changes, with many states, including Ohio, showing interest in daylight saving time lasting year-round.

Being that it is something that has disrupted my routine this week, I wanted to look at the pros and cons of that modern phenomenon, abbreviated here to “DST”.

Pros, according to Brittanica’s procon.org:

∫ DST improves safety, as noted by economists determining robberies drop significantly following the spring time change.

∫ DST is good for the economy, as more people shop after work.

∫ DST promotes active lifestyles.

And for the cons, from the same website:

∫ DST drops productivity, as the Monday after “spring forward” is one of the least productive days of the year, on par with the day after the Super Bowl.

∫ Changing sleep patterns, even for an hour, is bad for health. One study found the risk of a heart attack increases 10% the Monday and Tuesday following the spring time change.

So what would keeping daylight saving time year-round look like?

We would really feel it in the winter time, when sunrises would come as late as after 9 a.m. in the month of January.

The other option would be extending standard time, which would see our effects coming in the summer, when, in June, sunrise would be as early as 4:15 a.m. and those late-summer sunsets would be an hour earlier.

Some experts believe that option falls more in time with our body’s circadian rhythm.

In the end, this is all a great reminder that we can’t escape seasons, and the amount of sunlight we receive varies to a high degree depending on the time of year. No two days are the same.

If we’re talking personal preference, I would be just fine being done with the fall back, spring forward bit. And I think I’d much rather deal with darker mornings in the winter than deal with 4:15 a.m. sunrises and the shortening of those majestic June nights that seemingly last forever.

Cranky (getting) older man alert: Stop disrupting my schedule and that of everyone else.

Bring on permanent daylight saving time year-round. It will make life a little less difficult in the fall and spring.

Let a man have his routine!

Alpena native Jeremy Speer is the publisher of The Courier in Findlay, Ohio, the Sandusky (Ohio) Register, The Advertiser-Tribune in Tiffin, Ohio, the Norwalk (Ohio) Reflector, and Review Times in Fostoria, Ohio. He can be reached at jeremyspeer@thecourier.com.