The Debate Over Daylight Saving Time Is Not That Simple

If you’re like many Americans living in one of the 48 states that just underwent a time change, “falling back” one hour, you’re probably just barely getting adjusted to the new time, known as “standard time.” If you live in Hawaii, most of Arizona, or in the U.S. Territories, you remain on the standard time of your time zone, where you’re now off one hour more or one hour less than your neighboring or distant states, depending on whether you’re looking east or west. If you’re not yet scratching your head on whether that’s a good thing, a bad thing, or just a different—and exhausting—perspective, you’re not alone. And the question of which one is a ‘better’ time also remains.

The issue of doing away with the biannual changing of the clocks— one hour back in the fall, to standard time, and one hour forward in the spring, to daylight saving time, has been one of much debate. States have put this to the polls in recent years, and there has been an overwhelming “yes” to do away with a time change. But it’s been in the wrong (or, shall we say, less healthy) direction.

In March 2022 the U.S. Senate passed the Sunshine Protection Act, which would mean that states would be on daylight saving time all year long. It sounds ideal—no clock changing any more. This might seem like a great idea when you’re leaving the office at 5pm, long after the November sun has set, but from a health standpoint, this is the wrong direction to go.

According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine as well as multiple sleep specialists throughout the country, we should be staying on standard time, not daylight saving time, twelve months per year. Regardless of daylight saving or standard, there are fewer daylight hours in the winter months in the Northern hemisphere, and fewer daylight hours in the summer months to our south. That much we can’t change, unless we’re living equatorial, where number of daylight hours have minimal shift, regardless of the time of year.

There are several concerns to address when it comes to our oft dreaded biannual time changes. The first is the disruption of a time change itself. It’s like jet lag without a restful vacation that might come with it. Most Novembers, families with young children experience absurdly early morning wake-ups by toddlers for several days, followed by sheer exhaustion on the part of both children and adults by early evening. In March, children and adults are dragging themselves out of bed for several mornings in a row—mornings that are now pitch dark. Having the sun set past 7pm on those first nights of daylight saving time seem to have little benefit in feeling more awake in the evening. This annoyance pales in comparison to the real concern— notable rise, up to 8%, in automobile accidents, heart attacks and strokes in the week following the start of daylight saving time. Year after year after year.

The Sunshine Protection Act, introduced by Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla), which, in name, sure does sound appealing, especially with less daylight in the late afternoons, would keep us at daylight saving time all year round. This was approved by the Senate, with proposed benefits including no biannual disruption, and data demonstrating reduced incidence of cardiovascular events and motor vehicle accidents. This format was tried in 1973-1974, whereby the U.S. stayed on daylight saving time in the fall of 1973. It was reversed the following year after eight children in Florida died in car accidents associated with the morning darkness.

According to sleep experts, continuous standard time would avert risks of disruption, but would enable more light in the mornings when children are getting to school. With continuous daylight saving time, northern states such as Michigan would see the sun rise at or after 9am during winter mornings. In addition, the highest point of the sun should be at around noon each day, which is in better alignment with our natural circadian rhythm. This would be the case in standard time all year. And as much as many enjoy the later light in summer evenings, these late bright nights can interfere with the darkness needed for the body’s melatonin release at the end of each day. Delay in melatonin release in spring and summer months can mean sleep deprivation during these seemingly brighter, longer days.

The origins of daylight saving time are based on ‘saving’ (or actually spending) money. In the early 1900’s, more evening daylight was thought to reduce use of costly energy sources in the early evening hours. Store owners thought that if workers finished work before the sun had set, they were more likely to go shopping. Even Benjamin Franklin recommended daylight saving time as a means of saving on the use candle wax in the evenings, hoping that people would turn in earlier and blow out those wicks. But these angles no longer fly in our world filled with multiple means of consumerism and energy use. With policy recommending one time and scientists recommending another, we continue to experience political pull and scientific push, which are yet again at an impasse.