Tinkering with the biological clock

by Sayed Javed Ahmad
January 7, 2010

http://www.weeklyblitz.net/390/tinkering-with-the-biological-clock

So, we are back in pavilion before the end of winter season! Apparently, the experiment of tinkering with the biological clock did not work too well in Bangladesh. No one welcomed the move and many didn't like it.

Good that we are back in unity. The 'digital divide' became quite apparent during the 'daylight saving' experiment. During the time the nation was divided into two groups, Analog and Digital; which means that a group that did not bother to change their clock at all and lived with their old traditional timings and the group that adopted the time change and lived in misery for a while.

Personally, it worked fine for me, especially in the month of Ramadan. In that month I could go home early freshen up and wait for the day end to break my fast with my family. There were no rush in the streets and could go home safely. Similarly, I could get up say around seven in the morning and the sun was yet to rise making it convenient for me to offer my morning prayer just on time. Immediately afterwards I could get busy preparing to come to work and reach work place on time. Now that we moved back to our traditional time my daily activities that I enjoyed will have to be re-adjusted.

At CDBL, it was not at all a problem for us to change the system time to cope with the computer system that matters for us (e.g., DSE & CSE). Similarly, switching back was also a breeze.

Daylight saving time (DST) is a concept that is in practice in the countries in the northern hemisphere. According to Wikipedia, "Typically clocks are adjusted forward one hour near the start of spring and are adjusted backward in autumn. Modern DST was first proposed in 1895 by George Vernon Hudson, a New Zealand entomologist. Many countries have used it since then; details vary by location and change occasionally.

The practice is controversial. Adding daylight to afternoons benefits retailing, sports, and other activities that exploit sunlight after working hours, but causes problems for farming, evening entertainment and other occupations tied to the sun. Traffic fatalities are reduced when there is extra afternoon daylight; its effect on health and crime is less clear. Although an early goal of DST was to reduce evening usage of incandescent lighting, formerly a primary use of electricity, modern heating and cooling usage patterns differ greatly, and research about how DST currently affects energy use is limited and often contradictory.

DST's occasional clock shifts present other challenges. They complicate timekeeping, and can disrupt meetings, travel, billing, recordkeeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns. Often, software can adjust computer clocks automatically, but this can be limited and error-prone, particularly when DST rules change."

Although our government declared that we would go back to that 'tinkering' again once the public anger cools down, but considering the achievement or differences we have noticed in our short experiment we should seriously consider if we should bother with it at all. After all, the government officially acknowledged that the benefits were not fully realized as anticipated.

Personally, I would not mind going back to that game again as it benefits my personal daily activities and schedule, but in order to pay respect to the majority citizens and living in a democratic society I would not insist upon it. I would rather live happily with the rest of the happy people around me with some minor adjustment from my part. Wish you all a happy new year! Thank you.

The author is Chief of Operations (COO) in Central Depository Bangladesh Limited (CDBL)

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