Daylight Saving Time Should Not Be Permanent

Congressional passage of the Sunshine Protection Bill, which mandates a permanent Daylight Saving Time  throughout the United States, would be "a big mistake."

So declared circadian biologist Joanna Chiu, newly elected president of the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms (SRBR) and professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. 

The bill passed the House of Representatives on July 14 and is now headed to the Senate. It will not "save" daylight and could result in increased risks of heart disease, diabetes and depression, and more vehicular accidents as children go to school in the dark and the workforce goes to work in the dark, Professor Chiu said. "The bill provides no options for states to self-exempt."

In her statement, Chiu noted that "The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed the Sunshine Protection Act  to install permanent Daylight Saving Time across the U.S. with no options for states to self-exempt in the future." The House passed the bill 308-117. Next, the bill goes to the Senate for debate.

"As a circadian biologist, I cannot support this piece of legislation," Chiu said. 

Making Daylight Saving Time permanent would keep clocks one hour ahead year-round, shifting the U.S. to the time currently observed from March to November. 

"My lab studies the circadian clock, an internal clock that decides not just when you feel sleepy, but when your blood pressure rises, when your gut most efficiently digests food, and even when your brain is sharpest," said Chiu, a newly elected member of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences. "When that clock runs on time, all these systems are coordinated. When it's chronically thrown off — by night-shift work, jet lag, or scrolling your phone at 2 a.m. — those systems fall out of sync. Disrupted circadian rhythm has been linked to higher risks of heart disease, diabetes, depression, and more."

"Daylight saving time essentially means we are taking one hour of sunlight in the morning, when our body really needs natural light to properly sets our circadian clock, and moving it to the evening, when light will disrupt our circadian rhythm and affect our sleep hygiene," Chiu explained. "On the other hand, standard time allows for better alignment between natural sun time and social time, that is, the time on our watch/phone, promoting healthier circadian rhythms. In short, if we are to remove the twice-a-year time change, it is much better to go with permanent standard time."

SRBR, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the National Sleep Foundation, Save Standard Time, American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST), and the Coalition for Permanent Standard Time all oppose the bill and seek a bill to make standard time permanent in the U.S.   

SRBR is an international society established in 1986 to promote the advancement and dissemination of research in all aspects of biological rhythms.

Should Restore Permanent Standard Time

"Instead of the Sunshine Protection Act, I would support the new bipartisan legislation, the 'Sunshine for Our Kids Act,'  introduced by Representatives Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA) and Pat Harrigan (R-NC), to restore permanent standard time nationwide, while allowing states the freedom to keep Daylight Savings Time," Chiu said. "Some people I talk to associate permanent Daylight Saving Time with summer time, when the days are much longer. Who doesn’t like longer days? Unfortunately, changing to permanent Daylight Saving Time will not give us longer days in the winter time. What it would do instead is to force workers and kids to have to wake up and go to work/school in total darkness for months in the winter."

The SRBR president pointed out that "Sadly, permanent Daylight Saving Time means sunrise will not happen until 8:30 a.m. in most U.S. states. This is the reason why permanent Daylight Saving Time repeatedly fails; the U.S. tried permanent Daylight Saving Time in the 1970s. Everyone realized it was a mistake and the policy was reversed within two years. We should learn from history and not make the same mistake again."

"Personally,"  Chiu added, "I support permanent standard time. It is also overwhelmingly supported by all major medical and scientific organizations, including the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms."

The U.S. declared a year-around daylight saving time in 1973 amid a national energy crisis. That December it drew an 80 percent approval rate, but by February, the approval rate had dropped to 42 percent.

"In the midst of last year's fuel crisis, Congress passed the Emergency Daylight Saving Time Energy Conservation Act and set the nation on year‐round daylight saving time, as a two‐year experiment. Previously, daylight time had been observed six months in the year," according to an Oct. 4, 1974 article in the New York Times. President Ford signed the bill rescinding the act.