Is Daylight Saving Time Sunlight Bad For You?
Dr. Andrew Huberman says standard time is healthier; New Capitol Hill bill to lock the clocks; Trump and Biden positions
When we “fell back” into dark, standard time in the fall, 80% of us voted in a poll to lock the clocks. That mirrors national polls on the issue.
But, like most Americans, we were split 60/40 on whether to stick to standard or daylight saving time.1 I strongly debated with you in the comments to stay on daylight saving time (DST) because I’ve been advocating for it for over 10 years.
But now I’m questioning if that’s the healthier path. Plus, politics play a part in this one hour.
DST’s Physical and Mental Harm
Dr. Andrew Huberman, the Stanford neuroscientist, says daylight saving time is “dumb”, “anti-health” and “antibiology.” He strongly advocates for staying in standard time.
He writes about his opposition to springing forward one hour:
DST disrupts our sleep-wake cycle and overall circadian rhythm due to time changes that misalign our internal clocks with the solar day. The cumulative effect of this disruption can negatively impact sleep, mood, and behavior.
Dr. Huberman explains that “people are pushed to adapt to a time that is already later in the day when the light is going to push them later anyway.” He said on his podcast:
that one hour shift is taking you out of alignment of the natural light-dark cycle in exactly the wrong direction.
I’m a fan of Dr. Huberman and try to follow his guidance to get 10 minutes of sunshine in my eyes right after waking.
Also, I rarely wear sunglasses anymore because of what I’ve learned from him about the importance of natural light at different times of day for health. So now I’m rethinking my passionate advocacy for late summer nights.
He said we can help get back on track from the lost hour by doing this:
Congress is changing clocks
There is no political will to keep standard time and make Dr. Huberman happy. The only real option on Capitol Hill now is to lock the clocks in the more popular direction.
This week, Sen. Edward Markey (D-MA.) Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) reintroduced the bipartisan Sunshine Protection Act. It makes daylight saving time permanent except for the states exempt from the federal law (Arizona and Hawaii.)
Rubio said it would end the “stupid practice of changing our clocks back and forth.”
Two years ago this month, I wrote to you ecstatically that the Senate unanimously passed the bill to lock the clocks in DST. Read it again here:
However, the bill that passed the Senate expired with that Congress because it didn’t get through the House. Some districts on both sides of the aisle prefer standard time. So, neither party can whip the vote to stop the time change unless it can agree (like the Senate) to pick a time.
Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) reintroduced the Sunshine Protection Act this week and will likely face the same problems as last time. It sure would be a popular election-year bill to pass to lock the clocks before we head to the voting booth in November.
Presidential Non Debate
You can’t factor time change into your vote for president because Pres. Biden’s White House refuses to say whether he supports ending daylight saving time. Biden probably is afraid to anger any voter with his support so low.
Trump, on the other hand, would likely sign the bill if it gets through Congress. When he was president, he tweeted in March 2019:
Making Daylight Saving Time permanent is O.K. with me!
I’m still with Trump and the Senate — in favor of locking the clocks in daylight saving time. But after reading the research from Dr. Huberman, I’m going to try to be more aware of getting the sun in my eyes a little earlier to keep the natural circadian rhythms.
Discussion Questions:
Do you think Dr. Huberman’s views on standard time need to be better known in politics?
Are you tired from losing an hour of sleep or happy to have the extra hour at night again?
Audio versions survey:
My first survey to decide if you want me to send audio/podcast versions of each post is amazingly a perfect tie. See below.
So what do you think is the fair compromise? I’d like to do an audio version of the guilty verdict for the armorer in the Alec Baldwin shooting because there’s a lot to unpack for his upcoming trial, but I don’t know if you want it.
I have written all my past stories on this topic with Daylight Saving Time capitalized. I checked AP style guide and other sites this time and discovered it’s supposed to be all lowercase. It doesn’t look right, but it’s accurate.
Permanent DST means that elementary school kids start their first class in the dark in the fall/winter. No thank you. I favor sticking to standard time year round.
I loathe changing the clocks twice a year. Spring is the harder change. It also seems like kids get more colds right after the spring change because they are so tired and run down.
Lock. The. Clock.