Opinion - Congress should put us on year-round standard time, not DST

Yahoo

20-05-2025

Most Americans hate seasonal clock changes. But it matters how we abolish them.
Sen. Todd Young's (R-Ind.) 'Make America Rested Again' amendment, which would put the U.S. on permanent standard time, was proposed during Senate Commerce Committee review of the deceptively named Sunshine Protection Act. The amendment aims to abolish the annual switches to and from daylight saving time, in order to improve Americans' health.
The Sunshine Protection Act, first proposed by then-Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) in 2018 and earlier this year by Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), would do the opposite, putting the U.S. on permanent daylight saving time. That bill passed the Senate in 2022 in an unannounced unanimous consent vote, but some senators said afterward that they didn't realize what they were voting for.
The bill died that year in the House, whose Energy and Commerce Committee had just heard testimony from Vanderbilt University neurologist and sleep specialist Beth Malow about the potential harms of permanent daylight saving time, including increased risk of chronic diseases such as obesity, heart disease, and cancer.
Newer studies also show misaligned clocks are associated with a higher risk of motor vehicle crashes, depression and suicide. Daylight saving time forces us to start the day an hour earlier to go to work and school. It also creates a misalignment between our body clocks, which align with the sun, and our social schedules. Daylight saving time's harmful effects would be exponentially worse in the short days of winter, when it would cause months of sunrises after 8 a.m.
At a recent Senate committee hearing, Jay Karen, representing the National Golf Course Owners Association, suggested that the earlier sunsets of standard time might reduce revenue from golfing and other outdoor recreational activities. But standard time does not shorten the number of summer daylight hours. Golfing continues to flourish in states that already follow permanent standard time, including Arizona and Hawaii. If we were to adopt standard time year-round, workers' increased productivity would drive a stronger economy and generate increased income for workers' vacations and recreational activities. Children would not have to go to school in the dark throughout the winter months.
Most states that passed bills calling for permanent daylight saving time in the last few years saw it as the quickest way to end bi-annual clock changes. Some legislators were misled by false promises of alleged health benefits and energy cost savings.
Since recent efforts at the state level to address these misconceptions, only one bill calling for permanent daylight saving time has passed in the last two years. More state bills now call for standard time year-round. Public opinion in favor of standard time is growing. A recent Gallup poll found 48 percent of Americans favor standard time, whereas only 24 percent prefer permanent daylight saving time. More than seven in 10 Americans would like to end bi-annual clock changes.
The U.S. has tried permanent daylight saving time twice before, during World War II and in 1974. It quickly became unpopular and was reversed. Other counties have had similar experiences. Legislators in Paraguay are currently seeking to end the country's experiment with permanent daylight time.
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine and other health organizations back permanent standard time. That would bring our inner clocks more in line with sun time, with the sun overhead at noon. Permanent ST would foster improved sleep, workplace productivity, academic performance, driving safety, and mental and physical health. It would also reduce health care and utility bills.
The Senate Commerce Committee did not discuss Sen. Young's proposal to establish permanent standard time. It voted instead on an amendment of the Sunshine Protection Act by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) asking for a start date of 2027 to give states time to decide whether they want permanent daylight saving time or permanent standard time. After the bill goes into effect, states would not be allowed to change to permanent standard time, even if permanent daylight time is unpopular, as history predicts.
The 16-12 vote in favor of this amendment did not advance because many of the votes were proxy votes, and 15 in-person Aye votes were required.
The close count is a big change from the unanimous support of the bill in 2022. Even Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), who supported the measure, expressed concerns. The vote was not partisan. Senators from states with the latest sunrise times were most likely to vote against it. The close vote and expressed concerns signal an unlikely road for it to pass the full House and Senate.
Everyone who wants to end clock changes should get behind permanent standard time — the science-supported, history-tested, naturally healthy way to ditch the bi-annual switch.
Karin Johnson, MD, is a professor of neurology and a sleep medicine specialist. She is the co-chair of the Coalition for Permanent Standard Time and vice-president of the nonprofit, nonpartisan Save Standard Time and creator and host of its educational video series, 'The Science of Clock Change.' Jay Pea is a former software engineer and the president of Save Standard Time. Lynne Lamberg is a medical journalist and editor who writes frequently on sleep, biological clocks, and mental health. She is the book editor of the National Association of Science Writers.
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