Can you imagine how profoundly dark the night must have been for Cinderella? There probably was almost no light pollution. For Cinderella, sleeping in ashes and mucking around the kitchen at night with nothing but a rush light was likely scary, but total darkness when I’m trying to sleep is my idea of actual heaven.
More relevant to this post is that Cinderella didn’t have to contend with the radiant, silent killer: Daylight Savings Time (DST).
How do I loathe it? Let me count the ways.
First, it steals an hour of everyone’s life, as it did yesterday. It’s so disorienting. Back when I was teaching, inevitably, some students would miss a Monday class because they forgot to “spring forward.” They’d also forget assignments, and they were always groggy, but I never penalized them for that, because I was too.
Next, DST makes me irritable. This is partially my fault, because we built a house absolutely littered with windows, and there are no trees right by the house. (I had an aesthetic vision that would not be denied.) The accumulation of light in the house makes me wakeful well into the night. Yes, the amount of light you face all day and into the evening can make you extra wakeful. Seeing all that light all makes me worry about how my night will be, which makes me petty and grumpy.
DST is bad for everyone’s health. Yes, really. Reader, I give you a post from Johns Hopkins University on the evils of DST. Do your further googling; it’s genuinely unhealthy to have DST.
Finally, from March to November, my already wrecked sleep gets so much worse. Over the years, doctors have treated me to extended rants on how much they hate Daylight Savings Time, because chronic insomnia is linked to heart disease, diabetes, and dementia. Not gonna lie, the angry doctors give me a sense of justice: medicine is on my side.
But this year, I’ve turned the tables on the DST, for I have found the holy grail of blackout curtains. I’ve tried other kinds by the dozens over the years, but always, always, ended up letting a lot of light in. (Those slivers of light around the edges of bad blackout curtains are especially annoying.)
Enter, UBlockout. I swear to you, these roller shades will make your bedroom as dark as a cave even when it’s high noon on a sunny July day. They come with a frame, so no sunny edges peek out. Yesterday morning, when I woke up and went into the bathroom, which does not have UBlockout shades, it was like Dorothy opening the door to Munchkin Land. So searingly bright! The shades work, so, so well.
Sadly, I cannot use the UBlockout shades on all of my windows, because I have so many, it would ruin the appeal of the house. It would also look like meth cooks or serial killers live here—too many blank windows are unsettling and suspicious.
Despite all the evidence that DST is terrible, I know we’re stuck with it because people who love that extra hour are more vociferous than those who don’t. But my shades give me a bit more sleep, and like Cinderella, I know how to appreciate an opportunity to improve my life.
💤🤩💤
Kate Wolford was the publisher and editor of The Fairy Tale Magazine for many years. She’s now enjoying being Resident Fairy Godmother.
Image from Pixabay