Teenagers have a naturally later sleep cycle than children and adults, which means they should wake up later in the day to stay in sync with their body clocks. Sleep deprivation is already endemic among adolescents due to teenagers having to wake up “early” to go to school. But after complaints from parents about schools starting in the dark, and a spate of well-publicized road accidents involving children, the U.S. tried a permanent switch to daylight saving time in 1974 to save energy during the oil embargo by the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries. has actually tried to make daylight saving time permanent once before. Studies have found that people working night shifts-forced to work at times that are out of sync with their natural sleep schedule-have higher rates of heart disease and cancer than than those who work daytime hours. Scientists are also concerned that forcing people to wake up earlier and fall asleep later than their natural body clocks dictate may worsen sleep deprivation, which is linked to increased rates of obesity, diabetes, dementia, and other health issues. Many sleep scientists support standard time over daylight saving, as the latter more closely aligns with the natural day-and thus our natural body clocks.Īdopting daylight saving time as standard “leaves us permanently out of sync with the natural environment,” said Joseph Takahashi of the University of South Texas to the New York Times. The Senate chose to keep daylight saving, but that might prove to be the worse of the two choices, with potentially worse health outcomes. Senate had the choice of making either standard time or daylight saving time permanent. In their fight to “protect sunshine,” the U.S. A 2019 poll found that seven in 10 Americans would prefer leaving their clocks alone.

A 2017 report from JPMorgan Chase found that shoppers spent 3.5% less in stores in the month immediately following the “fall back” switch to standard time, as earlier sunsets encouraged people to go home rather than shop.īut perhaps most importantly, Americans generally hate changing the time on their clocks. Retailers also support a switch to permanent daylight saving time. Other studies found the rate of workplace injuries and even heart attacks tends to increase shortly after the U.S. One study found a small but significant increase in road accidents on the Monday after the switch to summer time, as the lost hour of sleep affected people’s driving ability. Some researchers blame the switch between standard and daylight saving time for a number of social ills, including lost productivity and increased health stress, as people’s bodies adjust to the time change. Southernly Austin gets 14 hours of daylight in summer and 10 hours in winter. In the U.S., each time zone switches at a different time. on the second Sunday in March and reverts to standard time on the first Sunday in November. For example: northernly Detroit gets over 15 hours of sunlight in the summer and only nine hours in winter. When do we turn our clocks back FALL first Sunday in November SPRING second Sunday in March FORWARD Most of the United States begins Daylight Saving Time at 2:00 a.m. Southern states see a smaller seasonal difference in daylight hours, which reduces the need to “save” daylight. population has also trended south in recent decades, with population growth in states like Arizona, Texas, and Florida significantly outstripping their Northern counterparts. That is until another four months pass and clocks need to be reset back to daylight saving time, which starts again Sunday, March 13 of 2022.The U.S. Amid the pandemic, Rubio argued, “More daylight in the after school hours is critical to helping families and children endure this challenging school year.”įor now, we’ll have to adjust. The advantages of making DST permanent and into a year-round standard time, according to Rubio, include a decrease in car crashes, a reduction in cardiac issues and seasonal depression, a reduction in the number of robberies by 27 percent, among several other benefits. It’s something Senator Marco Rubio approves. From 2015-2019, 29 states introduced legislation to abolish resetting the clocks, but it would literally take an act of Congress for it to happen.Īccording to AccuWeather there are benefits to keeping daylight saving year round. Every state, with the exception of Hawaii and Arizona, currently observe daylight saving time. we return to standard time, gaining an hour of sleep but losing an hour of daylight in the evening. Don’t forget to set your clocks back an hour before you go to bed Saturday night.

Set clocks back