Tuesday morning, many Americans woke up still grumpy and tired after losing an hour of sleep in the wee hours of Sunday morning to daylight saving time.
That made the nation peculiarly receptive, later that afternoon, to a surprise from the U.S. Senate. In a vote so sudden that some senators said they didn’t realize it was taking place, the Senate approved Sen. Marco Rubio’s proposal to end the annual spring-forward-fall-back rigamarole most Americans have grown heartily sick of.
Rubio’s plan, dubbed the Sunshine Protection Act, is not perfect. It would set the nation to perpetual daylight saving time — with the sun rising, and setting, later than the times typically associated with dawn and dusk. That creates the perception of more evening hours for activities like shopping and sports, and even if that’s an illusion (no timekeeping change can create more hours in a single day) it’s a powerful one. Spending goes up, and outdoor activities increase, when the sun sets later in the day. Some studies have also linked more light in the evening to a decrease in property-crime rates.
Science, however, firmly favors a move in the other direction. Dropping daylight saving time in favor of year-round standard time puts the daily rhythm of human life in closer harmony with sunsets and sunrises. People tend to get more sleep, and are overall healthier, under standard time. Seeing light in the morning is tied to healthier eating habits as well, reducing the incidence of diabetes and obesity. The rate of traffic accidents drops.
The biggest impact, by far, is on children. Under daylight time, many of Florida’s traditional school-start times will have children walking to school in the dark. Teenagers – who may be the age group most affected by dramatic dissonance between waking hours and sunlight — show a marked decline in school performance when their day starts before, or near, sunrise. School officials should start talking about adopting later start times to keep students safe and give them the best chance of success.
There is one consistent thing about the research supporting either year-round option, however: The biggest problems come from wrenching perceived time back and forth twice a year. Making either standard or daylight time permanent would help Americans live healthier, less sleep-deprived lives, fight mood disorders such as depression, increase productivity and do away with the annual anxiety of remembering to shift schedules. In some ways, it could reduce the consumption of energy (though with more Americans on the move, the savings in electricity bills might be offset by increased gas usage.) It would also put the United States in accord with the majority of the other countries that don’t reset their clocks.
And with itself. Right now, Arizona and Hawaii shun the twice-annual clock shift. Other states don’t have the option of switching on their own, but more than half of them (including Florida) have passed at least one law that would adopt permanent daylight saving time or standard time if either move won federal approval. Some states – hedging their bets – have approved both.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wouldn’t promise a hearing of Rubio’s bill, but there’s already interest: Last week, a House committee heard testimony on a proposal to drop daylight saving time. House and Senate leaders should work together, pick an option and get behind it.
Adopting this change won’t be a smooth glide — and, as always, the critics will be more vocal than the supporters. But Rubio’s bill wouldn’t take effect until November 2023, which is plenty of time to coordinate intricacies of chronology such as airline schedules.
Americans have always been flexible people; with enough planning and communication, they can adapt to any schedule. Debate over standard vs. daylight time shouldn’t obscure the real goal: Stop the pretense that, each year, an entire hour leaps across a eight-month span. It’s past time to lock the clocks.
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The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Krys Fluker, El Sentinel Editor Jennifer A. Marcial Ocasio, Jay Reddick and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson. Contact us at insight@orlandosentinel.com .
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