Daylight Savings Slashes Generosity

Recently, researchers in the US have conducted three methods of testing in order to identify if there is a correlation between sleep and generosity. One of the highlighted that the individuals tendency for generosity decreased after Daylight Savings, where one hour of sleep is compromised in favour of a longer day.

The trial compared charitable donations made over a period of time four weeks both prior and post Daylight Savings; revealing a 10% reduction in contributions to charities the week following the alteration in time.

However, donations stayed the same in Arizona and Hawaii, two states that don’t prescribe to the idea of Daylight Savings.

The experiments don’t stand free of limitation or speculation, with behavioural economist David Dickinson highlighting how there are other factors that may be contributing to the decline in generosity. Although, the “triple methodology approach” employed by researchers during testing enabled the development of “a more comprehensive story on how inefficient sleep affects decisions in this domain of helping others.”

Eti Ben Simon, a Californian neuroscientist, claimed that “lack of sleep shapes the social experiences we have [and] the kinds of societies we live in.”