Nation Debates Ending Or Making Dst Permanent

Earlier this month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill with strong bipartisan support making Daylight Saving Time permanent – no more setting clocks ahead and then behind.

Named the “Sunshine Protection Act,” it received 308 yes votes to 117 no votes. Now the proposed law is going to the Senate, where it faces a much tougher time passing, with members of both parties opposed. President Trump is pushing for the bill’s passage.

It was back in 1918 that Congress passed the Standard Time Act giving the federal government oversight of the nation’s time zones. However, it left individual states and cities with the capacity to create their own start and stop dates if they implemented Daylight Saving Time. 

Due to the confusion this caused, the Uniform Time Act of 1966 was passed to give states authority to set Daylight Saving Time dates in the late spring and early fall. Another change came in 2005 when the length of DST was extended by several weeks. Still, two states, Hawaii and Arizona, remain on Standard Time throughout the year.

DST starts between March 8 and March 14 and ends in the first week of November.

Passage of the proposed law could lead to more confusion about the time. It would allow state legislatures to vote to continue switching from DST to Standard Time and then back again each year.

In favor of permanent DST

Those who support permanent Daylight Saving Time argue that it allows for more time outdoors after work and school, creating more opportunity for family time activities. It also allows more time to work on being physically fit.

It also saves on energy, since people aren’t turning on lights, but the savings, if any, are very small.

It helps businesses extend their hours, making more money, and serving customers when they have time to shop in the evening light.

Making it permanent also eliminates the hassle of changing back and forth.

Favoring permanent
Standard Time

Those favoring permanent Standard Time say it aligns better with the body’s circadian rhythms, telling it to wake and be alert in the morning, and become drowsy and ready for sleep in the evening.

“Ending the clock switch is extremely popular, and science agrees stopping this madness is what’s best for our health,” Drs. Katie Sharkey and Katrine Wallace say.  “Nearly every major sleep-medicine and circadian-biology organization recommends permanent standard time, not permanent Daylight Saving Time.”

“Humans, like nearly every living organism, have an internal biological clock. Deep in the brain, a tiny cluster of cells called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) controls these circadian rhythms. Unlike the clock on your wall, it keeps time using light,” they write.

Natural sunlight wakes you up. As the sun sets, your brain produces melatonin, preparing the body and mind for sleep.

When we, through laws, “misalign” the clock with the body’s rhythms based on sunrise and sunset, it has harmful health effects, the doctors say. When DST starts, it takes the body time to adjust. 

“When we spring forward, we lose critical morning light. On average, people lose roughly 40 minutes of sleep that first night. The week that follows brings about 6% more fatal car crashes and nearly 6% more workplace injuries,” the doctors say. They acknowledge that as the body adjusts, accident rates return to their averages.

When we “fall back” to Standard Time in the fall, our body gets an extra hour of sleep if people choose to sleep in, and accident rates aren’t affected like they are with losing an hour.

Eliminating the back and forth between DST and Standard Time won’t fix the problems of our misaligned circadian rhythms, Sharkey and Wallace say. “Permanent DST is essentially a milder, permanent version of the circadian strain that makes shift work unhealthy,” they say.

There are also safety concerns for kids going to school in the morning if DST is made permanent. 

“By moving the clock back an hour in winter, permanent daylight-saving time would push winter sunrises to an absurdly late hour, depriving Americans of morning sunshine that’s essential for our safety and well-being,” U.S. Senator Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, is quoted by the New York Times.

When Congress made DST permanent in 1974, the law didn’t last long. Just 10 months later, it was repealed after a groundswell of opposition by parents angry over having to take their children to school in the dark.

“The evidence that changing the clocks twice a year causes short-lived harm is strong, which is why there is broad agreement that the semiannual seasonal switch should end. And Congress has made an important move towards this goal, but in the wrong direction,” Wallace and Sharkey say.

Minnesota has already enacted legislation saying it will go permanently to daylight saving time if Congress passes a law favoring it nationally.

If permanent Standard Time is adopted, the latest sunsets we will see would be at about 8:14, cutting short a lot of summer activities that rely on sunlight – golf, time on the lake, and outdoor events.

Here is a chart showing the sunrise and sunset times for permanent Daylight Saving Time and permanent Standard Time for our area. Which do you prefer? Or do you think we should continue falling back and springing forward?