In 1973, Congress passed a bill making daylight saving time permanent across the nation — a law that would quickly be repealed in 1974 as public displeasure mounted.
Fifty-three years later, the same bill making daylight saving time the law of the land is headed to the United States Senate for a vote after passing in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.
“Making standard time permanent is what has been shown to be best for us by science,” says Dr. Jennifer Evans, professor of biomedical sciences and circadian rhythm researcher.
Evans’ research focuses on daily rhythms and how light affects the brain. She says daylight saving time is perfect for the summer months, but for the other half of the year, there would be problems.
“What everyone forgets is the amount of daylight in winter is less and the sun rises later , which means that people are socially obligated based on clock time to do things like begin school and work that conflict with the environment — darkness — and their body. This leads to increased grogginess, especially for high school students,” Evans says.
In addition, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine endorses maintaining standard time.
If the proposed bill becomes law, the sun wouldn’t break the horizon until 8:20 a.m. on the shortest day of winter in Milwaukee. The change is even more drastic further west.
“On the western half of the central time zone, the sun may not rise until 9:30 a.m. on the shortest day of the winter, but children will be getting ready to go to school as early as 6 a.m.,” she says.
That means kids would get on the bus and go to school in the dark, increasing risk of accidents.
“Three hours before sunrise is pretty dark, and the dangers of this led to more fatalities the last time we switched to daylight saving time permanently.”
“The science indicates that we should stop switching, but they got the wrong one. Standard time is socially, scientifically, and biologically better for us.”
For more information on Evans’ research, click here.
