Standard vs. Saving Time: Which one do we hate?

ROANOKE, Va. – Twice a year, many of us in the U.S. take our anger out on the hour hand of the clock. Whether it's losing an hour of sleep (spring forward) or earlier sunsets (fall back), we're just never happy, right?

Well I found an interesting blog written a few years ago that discusses the "what ifs" of time change. "What if we kept it standard time?" "What if we just stuck with saving time?"

In this blog, you can localize things depending on your preferred sunrise and sunset times. So, I did just that for Roanoke.

STANDARD TIME: If we kept things standard throughout the entire year, we'd have 267 days with sunrises before 7 a.m. Sounds great, right? Well what about June, when the sun would rise before 5 a.m.? That wouldn't be too pleasant, unless you had room-darkening shades. The sun would rise before 6 a.m. 162 days out of the entire year. You'd also have fewer sunsets after 6 p.m.

SAVING TIME: You'd have fewer sunrises before 7 a.m. In fact, the sun would rise after 7 a.m. 56% of the year. That could arguably lead to more morning accidents or concerns at the bus stop. However, for those who like a late sunset, it's Daylight Saving Time that's your friend. If we were to keep things at EST the entire year, the sunset would set after 6 p.m. every day of the year. For many of us, this would be better for things like Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.). 

WHAT WE CURRENTLY DO: As it currently stands, there are 184 days in which the sun rises before 7 a.m. and 264 days in which the sun sets after 6 p.m.

After reading that, which one is it that you like best? While a lot of people say, "I hate daylight saving time, because of the earlier sunsets," you actually are referring to standard time.

Now that we're heading into daylight saving time, the sun is going to rise at 6:46 a.m. next Monday, but will set at 5:20 p.m.