This year's combination of daylight saving and Ramadan timings is certainly going to play havoc with the daily routine of people. This will affect both their health and productivity. Strangely, the authorities have not just decided to advance the clock by an hour; they have also advanced the office timings by half an hour, thus, forcing people to advance their routine by a huge one and half hours. Because of this queer timing, people would pass as long as 6 hours, from office break at 2:00 PM to Iftar at 8:00 PM, in total inactivity. On the other hand, from the end of Taraveeh prayers at about 11:30/12:00 PM at night to Sehri at about 4:00/5:00 AM, there would be very little opportunity for nightly rest. Not all people would be able to adjust their body clock to this punishing routine and recoup the energy lost at night during the 6 hours time available to them in the day from 2:00 PM to 8:00 PM. The result will be gravely low productivity and disastrous impact on public health. -SYED SAYEF HUSSAIN, Karachi, via e-mail, September 1.