What Permanent Daylight Saving Time Would Mean for Our Health

Soon we may not have to worry about changing our clocks twice a year, but that might not be a good thing.

Daylight Saving Time…Forever

The House of Representatives passed the Sunshine Protection Act earlier this month, which would make daylight saving time permanent. That means that our clocks would remain sprung one hour forward, as they are now.

How would that impact our sunrises and sunsets?

• In Atlanta, our latest winter sunrise would be close to 9 AM.
• In states like Michigan, Indiana, Minnesota, and Montana, the sun wouldn’t rise until after 9:30 AM.
• Of course, the sun would also set later: Much of the U.S. would have natural light until after 6 PM in the winter.

This act still has to pass in the Senate before it becomes a law, and it’s not clear whether that will actually happen.

We have tried this before. We never went back to standard time in the winter of 1974, because lawmakers were hoping that an extra hour of evening sun would cut energy use during the oil embargo. Confusion and safety concerns in cities where workers and students were commuting in the dark led Congress to bring back clock changes the next year.

Health Impacts of Time Changes

Seasonal time changes undeniably impact well-being. That one-hour difference may seem small, but it disrupts the circadian rhythm (your internal clock that regulates sleep, temperature, and hormones) enough to cause noticeable effects.

Like I said before: I might be extra sensitive, but I feel off for days after a clock change, especially in the spring.

According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), switching from standard to daylight saving time in the spring increases:

• Cardiovascular events like heart attack and stroke
• Missed medical appointments
• Sleep debt (not getting enough sleep)
• Traffic accidents, including fatal accidents

Clock changes in the fall and spring are associated with an increase in suicides.

It is no wonder that the AASM, the American Medical Association, and other experts have called to do away with these seasonal changes…except not the way that the Sunshine Protection Act proposes.

Permanent Daylight Saving vs. Permanent Standard

Sleep experts generally believe that the ideal path forward would be to switch to permanent standard time, which is what we are on after setting the clocks back in November. That’s because lighter mornings and darker evenings are more in line with our natural circadian rhythms, which protects health.

Dayna Johnson, PhD, associate professor of epidemiology at Rollins School of Public Health, is one such expert.

"Permanent daylight saving time might sound appealing, but it works against our biology,” says Johnson. “Our circadian system depends on morning light for alertness, and permanent daylight saving time would leave many of us waking and commuting in darkness for months, worsening sleep, safety, and overall health, especially for the workers and communities already carrying the heaviest sleep burden.”

But other experts favor the economic and social benefits of daylight saving. People are more likely to go out and spend money, they say, when evenings are lighter.

But one thing is certain: Americans are sick of changing their clocks—only 12% want to keep doing it. I count myself among the 47% who want to stop.