As clocks in the U.S. are turned back one hour Sunday, the debate ticks on in Congress and academic circles about whether daylight savings is beneficial or detrimental.
In March, the Senate unanimously voted in favor of the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight saving time permanent year-round for all states but Hawaii and most of Arizona. But the bill has stalled in the House, NBC News reported.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who introduced the act, suggested it would reduce crime, encourage children to play outside, and reduce the risk of heart attacks and car accidents, NBC News reported.
"There’s some strong science behind it that is now showing and making people aware of the harm that clock-switching has," Rubio said on the Senate floor in March.
A 2020 study revealed that fatal traffic accidents in the U.S. increased 6% in the week after daylight saving started, NBC reported. Other studies have found that daylight saving increases workplace injuries and medical errors in the days after the change.
A 2019 study found that the risk of heart attacks rose in the week after clocks sprung forward, though other research did not find such an increase, NBC reported.
Those studies mostly looked at the immediate effects of turning clocks forward. Steve Calandrillo, a law professor at the University of Washington, said people benefit from sunlight later in the day, since that's when car crashes are most common. Calandrillo's research also suggested that more sunlight in the evening reduces crime.
"I’ve always said darkness kills, sunshine saves — and darkness kills more people in the evening than it does in the morning," he said.
Dr. Karin Johnson, a neurology professor at UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate, said people in the U.S. lose about 19 minutes of sleep per day due to daylight saving time, which could increase the risk of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.
"We really need to align to the sun," she said. "If we want to make social changes and decide we want that extra hour [of light] at the end of the day, then maybe the work schedule should be an hour shorter."
Dr. Kin Yuen, a sleep medicine specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, said: "Some people never adapt to daylight saving time, so they are predominantly so-called jet lagged for eight months of the year," Yuen said, adding, "our brains are wired to receive the sun in the morning and perform activities that are consistent with our internal clock."
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