Most Americans turned their clocks back one hour earlier this month, and Congress should see to it that they stay there — permanently.
DST’s presumed contributions to saving energy are spurious, a triumph of supposition over fact. Its harmful effects on human health are real, especially for young people. Our body clocks were set eons ago to what we know as standard time. Changing the hands on the kitchen clock doesn’t automatically reset our body clocks.
The body produces melatonin, essential to sleep, only after the sun sets and lights are darkened. Other internal processes related to the rising and setting of the sun control the immune system, cardiac and liver functions and hormone production.
Natural time is especially important to teenagers, as any parent or teacher of high school pupils already knows. Their circadian rhythms are different. Their brains are still developing.
School before dawn
It is educational malpractice for school boards to persist in starting classes before dawn — a practice driven by bus schedules, not common sense. Year-round Daylight Saving Time, as in proposed U.S. Senate legislation, would make learning harder even as schools try to catch up what was lost to COVID.
Critics of DST argue that it contradicts “God’s time.” Theology aside, DST is plainly out of phase with the sun that directs our brain clocks. To substitute “natural time” for “standard time” would be more accurate.
Since the invention of sundials, humans have partitioned the day by when the sun is highest overhead. The abbreviations “a.m.” and “p.m.” refer to before and after the meridiem, Latin for midday.
Nearly everyone dislikes the twice-yearly changing of the clocks that’s required by law.
Inconvenience is not the biggest objection. Abundant evidence shows that rates of strokes and heart attacks peak after the clocks are set ahead in spring. In 2019, the Journal of Clinical Medicine reported an increase in heart attacks after the fall clock change as well. It’s well-documented that more mood disorders and car accidents occur after the springtime shift to DST.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s “Sunshine Protection Act,” passed by the Senate without debate, would end to the semiannual switching. Rubio put his finger on the problem, but this is the wrong solution. It provides for year-round DST instead of standard time except in Arizona, Hawaii and five U.S. territories that exempted themselves long ago.
Florida is one of 19 states with laws to follow daylight time year-round if Congress allows it. But it shouldn’t.
The House should amend Rubio’s bill to provide for standard time — that is, natural time — year-round.
It began in 1916
Daylight saving time crept into wide use as a war measure to save energy, first by Germany in 1916. The idea was to spend less fuel on illuminating factories. The Allies followed, but most countries reverted to standard time between World War I and II. Congress repealed it in 1919 but in 1966 made seasonal DST the law for every state that didn’t opt out.
Congress imposed DST year-round in 1974 in response to an Arab oil embargo, but it was wildly unpopular and seasonal DST returned 10 months later. More school children were reported to be traffic victims on account of the earlier winter hours.
DST seemed plausible when factories had wall to wall and floor to ceiling windows to maximize natural light. Today, warehouses, manufacturing plants, supermarkets and big box stores are essentially windowless in order to save on heating and cooling costs. To the extent that DST extends their business hours, it may contribute to a net national energy loss rather than a savings.
Moreover, darkness in the morning has energy consequences, prompting higher heating costs before sunrise and more cooling expense before sunset. A study cited by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation found that when all Indiana counties finally adopted DST, the average household used more energy for air conditioning than it saved from lighting.
The first lobby for DST was formed in 1917 by an owner of the Filene’s department store chain. Farmers and drive-in theater owners (remember them?) were the leading opponents when the Florida Legislature chose to follow the federal schedule. Ever since, chambers of commerce, merchandisers, golf courses and other outdoor sport and recreational interests have been leading proponents of DST.
Good night, daylight saving time. Your time is over.
