Fall Back, Spring Forward!

Fall Back, Spring Forward! 

The time that SO many people look forward to is nearly here!! Time to turn the clocks forward!! True, they don’t like losing an hour of sleep, but they LOVE having the extra daylight time. Hence the name Daylight Saving Time (DST).  

Benjamin Franklin wrote in 1784, “early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” He noted, during his time in France, that the Parisians saved money on candles by rising earlier to use the morning sunlight. However, it wasn’t until 1895 that George Hudson, a New Zealand entomologist (a person who studies insects), suggested what we know today as DST. Hudson liked the idea of having a little daylight after he was done with his work day to look for and collect insects. Still, it was Port Arthur, Ontario, Canada to become the first city in the world to establish and use DST on July 1, 1908. 

Europe, Russia and the United States followed and all had adopted DST by 1918 in an effort to add more daylight hours to conserve energy resources. However, many countries abandoned DST after World War I and did not return to it until World War II. (Note: DST has nothing to do with farmers or farming!) The Uniform Time Act standardized DST in 1966. 

Some people don’t like the “fall back, spring forward’ changes and argue that it has a significant impact on the economy, social relations, and our health. What you need to know is that your AMAZING body is fully capable of dealing with it. While time shifts can affect our natural body rhythm, the actual amount of daylight remains the same no matter what time the clock tells us it is. 

What’s more your body was meant to adapt. It’s built to change. Its ability to adapt is one of the most AMAZING things about your body!!! Adaptation is one of the five signs of life!! (Assimilation, growth, excretion, and reproduction are the other four.) So YES, as long as you are ALIVE, you should and can ADAPT!! 

Adaptability is your body’s ability to change in response to the external stresses it encounters whether they are physical, chemical, or emotional. For example, you step outside into really cold (or really hot) weather, however your body maintains a fairly stable internal temperature. You adapt. You lift weights at a gym and your muscles grow. You adapt. You are constantly adapting to countless stresses you face in your environment every day!! The more you are able to adapt the better. 

So how can we adapt as well as possible? Well one way is to optimize your body’s innate coordination system. That is your nerve system. Your brain is connected to every cell, tissue, and organ in your body, and your AMAZING nerve system is responsible for coordinating every one of the thousands of things your body is doing at any given moment. 

To keep your nerve system functioning at its best you should see your family chiropractor regularly. He or she will check your spine to ensure that it has not been affected by the hundreds of physical, chemical, and emotional stresses you encounter every day. 

Whatever affects your spine, affects your nerve system. No way around it; the relationship between the two is just too intimate. 

However, the reverse of that is also true: a well aligned spine, means a healthier nerve system, and a greater ability to adapt!! That means you will be your best no matter what time of day it is or how much daylight there is!!! AMAZING!! Now spring forward into your best you yet!!! 

—By Judy Nutz Campanale, DC, ACP

Provided and published by ICPA. For more information, visit discoverkidshealth.com