Speaker 1: This podcast is brought to you by Koala now Zara
Speaker 1: Daylight Saving has officially ended as of this morning. Do
Speaker 1: you know what that means?
Speaker 2: It gets darker earlier.
Speaker 1: That is one part of it, which we are about
Speaker 1: to explain in the pod. But the most important thing
Speaker 1: is that most of us, depending on what state or
Speaker 1: territory you're in, just got an extra hour of sleep.
Speaker 1: I don't know about you, but I'm feeling excellent news
Speaker 1: it is. I'm feeling particularly rested right now. So why
Speaker 1: not make it count with the Koala Experience life changing
Speaker 1: rest on their innovative award winning mattress or enjoy a
Speaker 1: cheeky nap on one of their ultra comfy sofa beds.
Speaker 1: I could nap for Australia. That sounds good to me.
Speaker 1: Don't waste that extra hour. Check out the full range
Speaker 1: at Koala dot com. Already and this is the Daily
Speaker 1: This is the Daily OS. Oh now it makes sense.
Speaker 1: Good morning and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Sunday,
Speaker 1: the weeks of April.
Speaker 2: I'm billyfit Simon's, I'm Zara Seidler.
Speaker 1: We are here, bright and early on a Sunday morning,
Speaker 1: bringing you another bonus episode because it is a course,
Speaker 1: a very special day. If you're woken up this morning
Speaker 1: thinking Wow, what a beautiful morning, the sun is shining
Speaker 1: and I've woken up earlier than I usually do, well,
Speaker 1: that's because daylight saving has officially ended. Now it is
Speaker 1: one of two times during the year that clocks change,
Speaker 1: but this one is the good one because it's when
Speaker 1: the clocks go backwards and you gain an extra hour
Speaker 1: of sleep. Today, we're going to explain to you why
Speaker 1: we actually have daylight saving in the first place, and
Speaker 1: answer the questions that you've probably thought about over the
Speaker 1: years but you've never actually known the answers to. And
Speaker 1: just a quick note before we get started that this
Speaker 1: episode is sponsored by Koala, who care about making sure
Speaker 1: that you are getting a very good night's sleep, but
Speaker 1: they have had no editorial influence over the content that
Speaker 1: we are sharing in today's podcast.
Speaker 2: Billy, I think you're the only person in the whole
Speaker 2: of Australia who has referred to daylight saving ending as
Speaker 2: the good one of the post.
Speaker 1: Do you mean days get shorter, Yeah, but we gain
Speaker 1: an extra hour of sleep.
Speaker 2: In the dark.
Speaker 1: I am one of those weird people and it's taken
Speaker 1: me many years to come to terms with the fact
Speaker 1: that I think I am finally confident enough to admit
Speaker 1: that I like winter. I think I'd prefer it more than.
Speaker 3: I her.
Speaker 1: I know, I feel like I will be shunned by
Speaker 1: society for saying that, but actually I like that it's
Speaker 1: darker in the afternoons, and I'm finally not sorry about it.
Speaker 2: Okay, Well, if you means shunned by society, meaning shunned
Speaker 2: by me, correct dead to me. Anyway, let's talk about
Speaker 2: this podcast. So obviously we're talking about the clocks changing.
Speaker 2: We're going into a different season. How does the end
Speaker 2: of daylight saving affect something like your sleep? Because I
Speaker 2: have a partner who, for three weeks after clocks change,
Speaker 2: will tell me every night that he's had an extra
Speaker 2: hour of sleep.
Speaker 1: He's right, basically, I mean it was only this morning,
Speaker 1: but still you feel the impacts of it for a
Speaker 1: few days after. Definitely. So when the clocks go back
Speaker 1: like they just did this morning, it is better for
Speaker 1: our sleep than when they go forward, which is why
Speaker 1: it's the good ones. Okay, so obviously we all just
Speaker 1: gained this extra hour of sleep, which is a positive
Speaker 1: depending on how you see it. And like I said,
Speaker 1: usually those positive effects do last for a couple of days,
Speaker 1: but they do then subside. But also during winter, we
Speaker 1: usually do sleep better because since it gets darker earlier,
Speaker 1: our body clocks start getting ready for sleep earlier, and
Speaker 1: so that means that we do go to bed earlier
Speaker 1: and usually we're getting longer nights sleep, which is a
Speaker 1: great thing. Again, it's when we lose an hour of
Speaker 1: sleep when daylight saving. I always want to say daylight savings, but.
Speaker 2: It's actually, honestly that the most complex part of this hour.
Speaker 1: But so when daylight saving begins again, that's when it's
Speaker 1: not great and it can be quite disruptive to out
Speaker 1: sleep cycles. But for now, and for Zara's partner Olie
Speaker 1: shout out to Olie, we can all enjoy it for sure.
Speaker 2: Okay, So really, I mean that all makes sense to me.
Speaker 2: I think the one thing that perhaps doesn't make a
Speaker 2: whole lot of sense to me is why we have it.
Speaker 1: Wait, I have to interrupt you quickly because I remember
Speaker 1: that I have one question that I don't know the
Speaker 1: answer to that I would really like someone in the
Speaker 1: audience to tell me. Okay, so I have not been
Speaker 1: at a club when daylight saving has ended?
Speaker 2: Club club?
Speaker 1: And I would like I can't help you out. I
Speaker 1: would like to know if anyone's been at a club
Speaker 1: when that has happened. Do they get an extra hour
Speaker 1: at the club because of daylight at the club? Do
Speaker 1: we still call it a club not shot nightclub? I
Speaker 1: have no idea. Maybe it sounds really triocky, but do
Speaker 1: you get an extra hour at the nightclub when daylight
Speaker 1: saving ends?
Speaker 2: Okay, that's where your brain went. My brain w to
Speaker 2: healthcare workers who are doing overnight shifts.
Speaker 1: And you're a much better person than me.
Speaker 2: No, it's because I remember talking to someone once about
Speaker 2: whether or not you get paid for the extra hour
Speaker 2: of work.
Speaker 1: I don't remember what the answer. Wait, that's such an
Speaker 1: interesting question.
Speaker 2: They must they must, I mean, let us know. Please,
Speaker 2: if you're a healthcare worker, if you get paid an
Speaker 2: extra hour for working on this Saturday night.
Speaker 1: And forget about the nightclub question. Now I feel like
Speaker 1: a bad person.
Speaker 2: Anyway, I'm just going to segue and move forward from
Speaker 2: there to the thing I think we're all thinking about, Billy,
Speaker 2: why do we have daylight saving?
Speaker 1: Okay, so it's all got to do with the Earth's rotation. So,
Speaker 1: as many of us know from our year sick science classes,
Speaker 1: shout out to mister Ronaldson, the sun rises and sets
Speaker 1: at different times throughout the year as a result of
Speaker 1: Earth rotating on its axis. And also, as we all remember,
Speaker 1: the Earth is also moving around the Sun, and it's
Speaker 1: because of that movement that it means that there are
Speaker 1: times when Australia gets it's more sunshine and then also
Speaker 1: times that we get less sunshine. Now, daylight saving is
Speaker 1: all about maximizing how much sun we get during the
Speaker 1: warmer months. So if we go back to just right
Speaker 1: before summer started in October, that's when we move the
Speaker 1: clocks forward so that everyone can enjoy more sunshine in
Speaker 1: the evening. And you know, you and I live on
Speaker 1: the East Coast in Australia and you'll often see at
Speaker 1: the beach at like eight pm or eight thirty pm
Speaker 1: people are somehow still like some baking on the beach
Speaker 1: and that's because of daylight saving that they can do that.
Speaker 1: But then in April, what we had this morning, that's
Speaker 1: when the clocks go back and it becomes much darker
Speaker 1: in the afternoons. Like you said, by the time we're
Speaker 1: leaving work, it is often the sun is often setting
Speaker 1: and it's getting darker, so that's when daylight saving ends.
Speaker 1: So we're no longer in the daylight saving period.
Speaker 2: Okay, so if we didn't change the clocks, it would
Speaker 2: be super dark like it has been for the last
Speaker 2: cup weeks every time I've woken up to get ready.
Speaker 1: It's so tack.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: If we didn't do this every April, by the time
Speaker 1: winter arrives, many of us would end up heading to
Speaker 1: school and work in the literal dark again, just because
Speaker 1: of how the Southern hemisphere is positioned in relation to
Speaker 1: the sun during that time. So, for example, the sun
Speaker 1: would rise at about eight thirty am in Adelaide in
Speaker 1: June if daylight saving didn't end.
Speaker 2: Very Scandinavian now, apart from us obviously enjoying the sun
Speaker 2: for longer in summer, that isn't actually why it started, though, Yeah.
Speaker 1: Started for a different reason. It started to help energy usage.
Speaker 1: So interesting, so interesting, I only just learned about this.
Speaker 1: So it was first popularized as a way to conserve
Speaker 1: fuel in European countries during World War One, and that's
Speaker 1: because with more daylight at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: rather than the beginning, people could drive home and cook
Speaker 1: their dinners by daylight instead of needing to use gas
Speaker 1: or electric lights to see what they were doing. So
Speaker 1: that started in Europe during World War One. Australia soon
Speaker 1: followed and it used daylight saving as well during war,
Speaker 1: and then it dropped it in peacetime. But then the
Speaker 1: idea stuck around, and it was in the late nineteen
Speaker 1: sixties that Tasmania always a trailblazer. They brought it back
Speaker 1: during a drought that left water supplies for hydroelectric energy
Speaker 1: dangerously low, and so that meant that they brought it
Speaker 1: back again to conserve energy, and Tasmania has had it
Speaker 1: ever since, and most other regions followed suit in Australia,
Speaker 1: and the logic still obviously holds up today because when
Speaker 1: it's lighter in the afternoons, you don't need to use
Speaker 1: electricity for your lights.
Speaker 2: You said there that most other regions followed suit after
Speaker 2: Tazzi went first. But daylight saving isn't a thing in
Speaker 2: all states and territories right.
Speaker 1: No, So it's not in Queensland, WA, or the Northern
Speaker 1: Territory Zara. Do you know what those three jurisdictions have in.
Speaker 2: Common anyone that I have a meeting with in any
Speaker 2: three of those jurisdictions, I get the time wrong with.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's because they're in a different time zone. Correct.
Speaker 1: That's my answer to the question.
Speaker 2: What's the real answer?
Speaker 1: Okay, the real answer is because they are Australia's three
Speaker 1: largest jurisdictions by land area. When I learned this, I
Speaker 1: was confused because I thought that New South Wales would
Speaker 1: have been part of the top three, but no, Northern
Speaker 1: Territory is actually larger than New South Wales. Now, their
Speaker 1: sheer size means that there is a big divide between
Speaker 1: the coastal city dwellers who want an extra hour of
Speaker 1: sun in the evening, and then the rural and farming
Speaker 1: communities who are getting up for work who want it
Speaker 1: to be light in the morning and who don't want
Speaker 1: to be, you know, sweating through the afternoon working. Now
Speaker 1: Western Australia, which is our largest state, they have actually
Speaker 1: held four failed referendums over the years on daylight saving
Speaker 1: and in the last referendum, the no vote was strongest
Speaker 1: again in regional and rural areas, with a whopping eighty
Speaker 1: six percent of voters in the central wheat belt say
Speaker 1: no to daylight saving. And for farmers, daylight saving can
Speaker 1: be really disruptive, not just for themselves and their work schedule,
Speaker 1: but also for their livestock.
Speaker 2: So I've heard this a lot before.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so we know that for cows, for example, daylight
Speaker 1: saving it can really confuse them if suddenly the light
Speaker 1: schedule is changing, and it really disrupts their natural cycles
Speaker 1: as well. Queensland is especially split, so you know, with
Speaker 1: different hours of daylight, and there are different climates and
Speaker 1: different work all of these make for really different ideas
Speaker 1: about daylight saving and it's quite a controversial topic there.
Speaker 1: I really liked this one quote that I wanted to
Speaker 1: read out, which I think will end on It was
Speaker 1: from a Queensland MP when the state debated daylight saving
Speaker 1: in the eighties. They said, if one lived in cans
Speaker 1: in summertime, the two things that one would not want
Speaker 1: would be more sunshine and more daylight, which I think
Speaker 1: is quite fair. It must be extremely hot. I imagine
Speaker 1: that's the last thing you want.
Speaker 2: And I mean, just as we end this, I do
Speaker 2: think it's interesting that this is not a uniquely Australian
Speaker 2: conversation that we're having I remember when I was researching
Speaker 2: this a few years ago. The US is kind of
Speaker 2: having this ongoing similar debate. There's been a piece of
Speaker 2: legislation in the Senate, I'm pretty sure for years age.
Speaker 2: Every time I check, it's just stalled there. So look,
Speaker 2: no one can agree. Of course, Australia is such a
Speaker 2: big country, so divided, so many needs, so many perspectives.
Speaker 2: But now I understand a little more about daylight saving.
Speaker 2: So thank you so much, Billy, thank you, and a
Speaker 2: massive thank you to Kohala for making this episode possible.
Speaker 2: We will of course be back with our deep dive
Speaker 2: tomorrow morning, but until then, enjoy the shorter.
Speaker 1: Day, enjoy the extra hours of sleep.
Speaker 3: There you go, all a matter of perspective, my name
Speaker 3: is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda bunge Lung
Speaker 3: Kalgotin woman from Gadigal Country. The Daily oz acknowledges that
Speaker 3: this podcast is on the lands of the Gadigal people
Speaker 3: and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Straight Island
Speaker 3: and nations. We pay our respects to the first peoples
Speaker 3: of these countries, both past and present.
Speaker 2: While you can't control the clocks, you absolutely can control
Speaker 2: your sleep quality with a little help from our friends
Speaker 2: at Koala, whether it's live changing sleep on an innovative,
Speaker 2: award winning mattress or a chicky nap. As Billy said
Speaker 2: on one of their ultra comfy sofa beds, You've got
Speaker 2: an hour of extra sleep now, so why not make
Speaker 2: it count. Sleep better, feel better, and wake up refreshed.
Speaker 2: See the full range at koala dot com and give
Speaker 2: yourself the sleep that you deserve.