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Comment by pkulak

5 hours ago

That's what everyone says. But it turns out people hate spending their morning in darkness for more light at night. Which makes perfect sense:

https://washingtonian.com/2022/03/15/the-us-tried-permanent-...

> the inkling of light they get during their winter commute

It's not an inkling. Unless you roll out of bed and instantly onto your commute, you're getting natural sunlight through all your windows for hours every morning. That's exactly when you need it.

11 comments

pkulak

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messe  5 hours ago

That has to be latitude dependent.

> you're getting natural sunlight through all your windows for hours every morning

Hah "hours". Not in Northern Europe you're not. My commute is dark on both sides. If I had to choose which side I'd prefer to be brighter I'd prefer the end of the day rather than feeling like my daylight has been wasted in the office. I shift my schedule in winter to make up for this as best I can.

  • pkulak  4 hours ago

    I guess. I'm at 46 degrees and civil twilight at Christmas starts at 7am. I get up at 6:30, so yeah, dead of winter, I spend 30 minutes in darkness. But that's better than 1:30.

    I guess it kinda hinges on this idea of "wasting" daylight. I don't feel like that. I want the sun to wake me up, and have no problem doing whatever I like when it's dark in the evening. Do people generally go on hikes after work? I go out for drinks. haha

    • messe  4 hours ago

      56 degrees here (Denmark, and grew up in Ireland @ 53 degrees).

      > I guess it kinda hinges on this idea of "wasting" daylight. I don't feel like that. I want the sun to wake me up

      The problem is that during the darkest parts of winter, even if I postpone my wake up as long as possible, I'm still getting up in the dark if I want to be able to commute into work on time. There's no sunlight waking me up.

      > Do people generally go on hikes after work? I go out for drinks. haha

      No, but I still have to do things like walk the dog, do the shopping on the way home. I find it a lot more pleasant starting out that part of day with a bit of sunlight.

      Also, yes, drinks. This is Northern Europe after all.

      EDIT to add: Civil twilight in December where I am starts ~07:40, and I also get up around 06:30 (when not dealing with insomnia like tonight).

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ako  27 minutes ago

It really depends on your interests: I use daylight for sports after work, really like being able to surf until 22:30 midsummer (52 degrees), so DST works for me. On the other hand, also don't mind the switching between wintertime and summertime, it's just like a minor jetlag we all have no problem with when going on holiday.

gregdeon  3 hours ago

> Unless you roll out of bed and instantly onto your commute, you're getting natural sunlight through all your windows for hours every morning.

Sadly, not if you're a student living in a basement in Vancouver!