Is today the sleepiest Monday of the year?
Unless you're in Mexico, which quit "springing forward" after the country's president said it was dumb
Welcome to the Monday after America sets its clocks forward — or as data suggests, the groggiest day of the year.
Two years ago, a group of senators used this sleepy moment to abruptly pass year-round daylight saving time — the idea that we would “spring forward” one final time and never go back.1 No more clock changes!
That was maybe good news if you live in a city like Boston or Miami, where the sun would still come up around 8 a.m. on the darkest days of the year. But year-round daylight time is less great if you live in Detroit or Indianapolis, where it would stay dark until 9 a.m. on some winter mornings.
Many Americans got mad at the Senate plan, lawmakers didn’t know what to do next, and the bill quickly died in Congress. The backlash also spooked lawmakers enough that some don’t even want to discuss clock changes. So as of now, any U.S. time-change plan remains on snooze.2
I covered the U.S. time-change debate pretty closely two years ago. But I was always fascinated by how Mexico was having the complete opposite debate: lawmakers there announced that daylight saving time was bad, and by October 2022 they got rid of it.
Fast-forward to today. Americans still change our clocks twice per year. In Mexico, they don’t change their clocks at all.
So are Mexicans healthier now?
After a year of evidence, the answer is … maybe? The data isn’t in, but Mexican doctors and officials insist it’s going well, and global sleep-medicine experts say the country’s decision should be a model for the rest of us.3
That led to this story in The Washington Post:
Mexico got rid of daylight saving time. Should the U.S. end it, too?
It’s a gift link! No paywall!
One scheduling note
I’d promised my editors a daylight saving time story weeks ago, knowing that “spring forward” was coming up on March 10.
I also had wanted to write a Post story about Lewis Strauss, the villain of “Oppenheimer,” before Robert Downey Jr. likely won an Oscar for his portrayal. One small challenge: the Academy Awards were also on March 10, so I knew I’d be doubling up on pieces timed to the same day.
Then came the news, which has a nasty habit of breaking unexpectedly.
We had a couple articles, analysis and updates last week about the Change Healthcare crisis that’s threatening the U.S. health system. There was also a scoop about Congressional scrutiny of historic Medicare fraud… some coverage and live-blogging of the State of the Union… even an exclusive on the Navy demoting Ronny Jackson, the former White House physician and current Trump ally.4
That’s too many words! Who has time to read nine articles from the same reporter in five days?5
Here’s hoping for a pithier week with fewer words from me.
It’s still debatable why so many senators and their offices were surprised by this vote two years ago, and whether the sleepiness from the time-change had anything to do with it.
I even went to the White House last week and asked officials about daylight saving time. (This was not the purpose of the trip, but I figured I’d ask while there.) No one had an answer on what President Biden wants to do, let alone if he cares.
And before anyone says anything: yes, Mexico is in a different situation than the United States, given that they’re much closer to the equator and the country benefits less from daylight saving time to maximize sunlight, as we write in the piece.
I’m told I talked about some of those stories on great platforms like NPR’s 1A and the PBS NewsHour. If you say so; last week was such a sprint, I don’t remember much of it.
It’s also a good journalism reminder I keep forgetting to learn: you should never count on a “slow day,” especially as a beat reporter. Be proactive on stories that can be prewritten, because the news will force you to be reactive on everything else.
The latest painful lesson: My story on Oppenheimer’s nemesis, Lewis Strauss. I did tons of research (maybe too much) for the piece but barely wrote anything while I trekked around Washington, because I didn’t want to prioritize it over my health-care beat.
Besides, I thought I’d have a slow day last week to finally write the story up before the Oscars.
Then the Change Healthcare crisis happened, some long-awaited tips on Ronny Jackson and Medicare fraud began to pay off, and all of a sudden I was frantically trying to write the Oppenheimer story at 3 am every night.
Don’t do what I did! Learn from my sleepless pain — especially on this sleepy Monday!