Daylight Debate: The final year to 'spring forward?'

Yahoo

08-03-2025

SPRINGFIELD, MO – This Sunday, we'll partake in our annual ritual of 'springing forward' by moving our clocks ahead by one hour. It'll mark the start of Daylight Saving Time, which results in a time shift that brings an extra hour of sunlight in the evenings. Fans of those later sunsets may want to soak up as much as they can, considering the growing debate over eliminating the annual time change.
Daylight Saving Time (which we equate with the spring, summer, and early fall months) is in effect between the second Sunday of March, and the first Sunday of November. The other portion of the year falls under standard time.
Standard time, with its fewer hours of evening daylight, is the 'real' format of time. Meanwhile, Daylight Saving Time is an artificial shift created to provide more sunlight in the evening hours. In recent years, opponents of the time change have been calling for the return to a standard format year round.
WHY DID WE START CHANGING OUR CLOCKS?
Many people mistakenly believe the practice was started as a way to give farmers more daylight to work in their fields. And while farmers may have benefitted from the extra light, the idea to change the clocks came about as a way to conserve energy. The thought was, having an extra hour of daylight in the early evenings would be one hour less that Americans would be turning on their lights and using electricity.
According to the U.S. Department of Defense, a form of Daylight Saving Time was first used in 1918 during World War 1 when resources were in higher demand. The coal and other fuel saved by not generating electricity across the nation during that hour would, in theory, leave more for factories cranking out materials for the war, and for ships and tanks involved with the defense efforts. A secondary benefit would be Americans having an extra hour of light to work or enjoy recreational activities.
Americans returned to standard time after the first World War, but in 1942 it made a temporary comeback for the same reason, to conserve fuel. During this second era, the time shift was called 'War Time.'
In 1966, Congress passed the Uniform Time Act, which created the daylight saving time cycle, and the twice-yearly clock change schedule we're accustomed to today.
In 1973, during an energy crisis, Congress passed a law making Daylight Saving Time permanent. However, due to unpopularity with the public, that change was repealed and we went back to the two-cycle format.
The concerns related to wartime resources and energy conservation faded away, but Daylight Saving Time remained a way of life thanks to Americans coming to enjoy the later daylight afforded.
WHY IS DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME SO CONTROVERSIAL?
While Daylight Saving Time has now been in effect for nearly 50 years, the debate over its benefits and drawbacks has continued. Many Americans have come to enjoy longer, sunny evenings in the warmer months to enjoy activities outdoors. However, some health advocates say the process isn't good for our bodies.
Many doctors say standard time matches how our bodies are wired. And while many people enjoy the later light in the evenings that comes with Daylight Saving Time, the practice can affect our natural cycles.
Some studies say the risk of heart attacks and strokes, sleep disturbances, and certain mood disorders increase when the clocks change. There is also evidence suggesting that accidents, such as car crashes, increase in the days following time changes.
Aside from the health effects, some Americans say Daylight Saving Time and the accompanying clock change is inconvenient. That's because we lose an hour of sleep on the one night our clocks jump ahead (though we gain an hour on the night in November we set them back). For many years, some Americans complained about having to go through the process of physically changing their clocks. But, those issues have largely become a thing of the past with most of our digital devices updating automatically.
Those in support of Daylight Saving Time point to several benefits, namely having more hours of evening sunlight to get work done or enjoy through recreational activities.
While some health studies point out supposed drawbacks of Daylight Saving Time, there is other evidence suggesting the opposite. For instance, many doctors say the later sunlight, and the ability to take advantage of it for recreation or other outdoor activities, helps improve mood and mental disorders.
There could also be safety benefits to later light. On one hand, some experts say the spring change leads to more car accidents due to people's lack of focus as their bodies adjust. However, there is also data showing the majority of car accidents, overall, take place in the darkness. That leads some people to ask the question, would having an extra hour of darkness each day year-round lead to more crashes?
ATTEMPTS TO DO AWAY WITH THE TIME CHANGE
Many of the perceived drawbacks to the time change have to do with the adjustment period experienced on and around the day the switch takes place. With that, a lot of people are all for keeping a set schedule for all twelve months. But then the debate becomes, do we make Daylight Savings or Daylight Standard the permanent format?
There have been several attempts to make Daylight Saving Time the year-round standard.
In 2021, Florida Senator Marco Rubio introduced the Sunshine Protection Act. That bill failed to gain traction and never made it out of Congress.
Two other versions of the Sunshine Protection Act were introduced in Congress during the 2023-2024 session. But, those failed as well. A similar bill has been introduced for the 2025-2026 session, but it hasn't made any progress.
Then there is President Trump, who is *for making Standard time– earlier nightfall- the permanent way going forward. He posted on Truth Social back in December…
'The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn't!' he wrote. 'Daylight Saving Time is inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation.'
Considering the speed at which the President has been fulfilling promises and making changes since he returned to office, many Americans wondered if this would be the last year we spring forward. However, on Thursday, Trump announced he would not seek to change the current schedule.
He stated, 'It's a 50/50 issue, and if something is a 50/50 issue, it's hard to get excited about it,' Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. 'I assume people would like to have more light later, but some people want to have more light earlier because they don't want to take their kids to school in the dark.'
Meanwhile, lawmakers in several states, including Missouri, have introduced bills to keep standard time year round.
So, for now, the great debate over sunlight will continue.
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