Why experts say keeping standard time is 'undeniably' better for us

(NEXSTAR) — We’re just a couple of weeks away from the end of daylight saving time, the back half of a twice-a-year practice the U.S. has observed for decades.

The country has had a back-and-forth relationship with the seasonal changing of the clocks, with recent polls showing a consistent desire among Americans to do away with the practice altogether. 

Whether the U.S. should observe permanent daylight time or permanent standard time will depend on who you ask. 

A May 2024 YouGov poll found 58% of Democrats and 63% of Republicans support making daylight saving time permanent. Of those who supported locking the clocks in a 2022 Monmouth University poll, 44% preferred permanent daylight saving time (the time we observe from March to November).

More than a dozen states have passed legislation or resolutions to move to permanent daylight saving time (which would require action by Congress). That’s in line with three pieces of legislation introduced on the federal level, all calling for permanent daylight saving time, that have stalled.

It’s the handful of states that have considered permanent standard time (the time we observe from November to March), however, that health experts agree with.

Dr. Karin Johnson, spokesperson for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) and co-chair of the Coalition for Permanent Standard Time, is among those experts.

In addition to raising awareness of the benefits of permanent standard time (more on that in a moment), the coalition is hoping to encourage states to pass bills. Often, according to Johnson, the push is for the state-level bills to be in pact form, essentially allowing a state to be on year-round standard time if one or more of its neighboring states does the same. The overall hope is that, if more states call for all-year standard time, federal legislation will go the same route. 

So why do Johnson, the coalition she co-chairs, and other health experts want to lock the clock on standard time?

Permanent standard time is “undeniably” the best option for our health, “if you believe in science, according to Dr. Alaina Tiani, a clinical health psychologist who specializes in behavioral sleep medicine at the Cleveland Clinic’s Sleep Disorder Center. 

A major benefit to year-round standard time is the amount of daylight we would get in the mornings, she explained. 

“Having more of that light exposure at those earlier times is essentially better for our body's rhythms than, you know, the opposite with daylight savings and having the evening light exposure,” Tiani told Nexstar.

When we “fall back” in November, sunrises will slide forward by an hour. For some parts of the country, that means moving the sunrise from the 7 o'clock hour to the 6 o’clock hour. If the U.S. were to stay on daylight saving time year-round, sunrises would be much later, nearing 9 a.m. in some areas.

Getting enough sunlight exposure in the morning is important for our melatonin system, Tiani explained. You may take a melatonin supplement to help you sleep at night, but the system is more about darkness than sleep. 

“It's a hormone that our body produces to kind of get the processes started for sleep when it notices that it's dark outside, but in the morning and with sunlight exposure, light actually suppresses melatonin,” Tiani said. Permanent standard time would afford us more of those crucial morning daylight hours.

It could also be better for our circadian rhythm, otherwise known as our internal clocks, which can contribute to other health factors like blood pressure, heart rate and cortisol levels, according to Tiani.

Among those who could benefit most from those early sunlight hours are children, Johnson noted. She highlighted a study conducted in Indiana, which found that children living on the side that was on permanent standard time did much better on their SATs than children living in the part of the state that changed the clocks twice a year.

There is a potential downside to the earlier sunrises: come summertime, the sun would rise in the 3 or 4 o’clock hours, depending on where you live. However, according to Johnson, this isn’t such a bad thing. 

You’re more likely to be able to sleep through those early sunrise hours, she explained. They also come with earlier sunsets, which could make falling asleep at night easier — especially for your kids. Earlier sunrises could also give you more time to work out or run errands during the cooler morning hours of a summer day, Johnson said, adding that that’s one of the reasons parts of Arizona are on standard time year-round. 

The potential benefits to our sleep and circadian rhythm could have even more positives associated with them, Johnson explained. 

She told Nexstar that other studies have found relationships between sleep and circadian rhythm deprivation and mental health problems, drug use, speeding, delinquent behaviors, educational performance and employment salaries.

“We know that a lot of the drivers for people becoming criminals increase in the sleep-deprived population,” Johnson said. She also noted that research has found that areas where the sun rises and sets later, as it does when we are observing daylight saving time, had 20% more fatal car crashes than those on the opposite side of the clock, refuting an argument frequently made by proponents of permanent daylight saving time that the extra light at night would reduce such incidents.

Another potential benefit of permanent standard time? A decrease in suicide rates. 

According to Johnson, a recent study found that switching to permanent standard time, instead of the seasonal daylight saving time we’re currently on, could prevent up to hundreds, if not thousands, of suicides per year. 

Outside of the health benefits, there’s also the historical point, Johnson noted: the U.S. has tried observing daylight saving time permanently before and “it’s failed.”

States are permitted to exempt themselves from permanent daylight saving time and lack the authority to observe daylight saving time year-round. For now, only Hawaii and part of Arizona observe standard time year-round. 

Daylight saving time ends on Nov. 3 this year and will start again on March 9.