As early November approaches, the end of daylight saving time also draws near, with the sunset occurring around 5 p.m. and slowly going back each day. Although sunrise happens an hour earlier, it really makes no difference for me since my school starts at 8:10 a.m. There seems to be no value in ending daylight saving time instead, the time should remain the same throughout the entire year.

The biggest issue I have with daylight saving’s is how short the day feels. By the time I get home from school, the day pretty much ends because there is no sunlight. Specifically on the weekends, if I plan on doing something outdoors, such as going to a pumpkin patch or taking a walk, I have to plan on doing it earlier because of how early sunset is. While there are numerous activities that can be done outdoors at night as well,  the temperature would have decreased more by then since there is no sunlight.

Another conflict I face as a Muslim with the end of daylight saving time is the change in prayer time. As a Muslim, I pray five times a day and with the time going back it means prayer times also shift an hour behind. The following change then makes one of the prayer times fall within the school hours and makes it difficult for me to find an appropriate time between my classes to step aside to pray. If I end up staying after school for a club or event, the third prayer of the day also begins. The Muslim prayer also requires you to do an ablution (purification with water) beforehand and it can be difficult to do the following at school.

Lastly, with the day being shorter, I feel less productive. Usually when it’s dark outside it symbolizes bedtime for me and so when I get home and see how pitch dark it is by 6 p.m. it feels more like 10 p.m. which makes my body mentally and physically tired and sleepy. This leads me to become extremely unproductive and lazy with doing my homework. It also throws off my schedule as a whole, making it harder for me to get into a different routine with the time change.

Overall, daylight saving time should remain the same throughout the year. There seems to be no valid reason to end daylight saving time and make the day much shorter. While I love to get an extra hour of sleep during the end of daylight saving time, it just doesn’t seem worth switching my entire schedule for.