Daylight Savings Time: Is it time to “spring forward” and “fall back” on tradition?
This is the Our View, prepared by the Editorial Board and should be considered the institutional voice of The Record.
“Fall back, spring forward”
A mnemonic to remind you to either set your clocks back one hour in the fall and one hour forward in the spring.
This past Sunday, like most states in the United States, CSB+SJU students set their clocks an hour back for daylight savings. However, there has been an ongoing debate on whether or not this tradition is outdated.
On March 15 of this year, the U.S. Senate passed a bill to make daylight saving time permanent–a decision that reflects the growing popular view that the disruptive change in time twice a year may be more harmful than beneficial. According to a poll done by Monmouth University, “1 in 3 Americans want to maintain this clock-resetting practice. A plurality would actually prefer to make daylight savings time permanent, while using standard time year-round draws few backers. Six in 10 Americans (61%) would do away with the nation’s twice-a-year time change while a little over one-third (35%) want to keep the current practice.”
However as of Oct. 18, 2022, no action has been taken in the U.S. House of Representatives to advance the bill. All states but Hawaii and Arizona (except the Navajo Nation) observe Daylight Savings Time (DST). Including the territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands also do not observe DST.
Many credit Benjamin Franklin for daylight savings time, however, the U.S. did not institute it until World War I in order to make better use of daylight and preserve resources for the war effort. However, are there any benefits to DST? Some may argue that DST’s longer daylight hours promote safety, that longer daylight hours make driving safer and lowers car accidents to occur. Others say that DST is beneficial to the economy. However, they are missing one key point: DST’s negative impact on our health.
The transition to DST that all students experienced this past weekend brought sunrise an hour sooner, but it also brought sunset up an hour with it. Changing the time even if it is only by an hour, disrupts our circadian rhythm—“our natural, internal process that regulates the sleep wake cycle.”
According to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, this disruption to our internal clocks in the late fall leads to worsened mood and negatively affects physical health as darkness sets in an hour sooner than before. This change is especially triggering for those who suffer from seasonal affective disorder, which is associated with a lack of sunlight. Our bodies are actually quite apt at sensing the time, down to the cellular level. This abrupt change causes stress for the whole body.
Additionally, DST’s supposed positive effects, especially those surrounding vehicular crashes, are essentially erased when we move forward an hour in the spring, as the 7 a.m. sunrise turns back into 7 a.m. darkness, increasing the rate of crashes. It would be much better to avoid falling back and springing forward entirely.
Although the whole reason that DST was introduced a century ago is for energy conservation, many argue that DST actually does the opposite. “Modern society, with its computers, TV-screens and air conditioning units, uses more energy, no matter if the sun is up or not. Today, the amount of energy saved from DST is negligible.” It’s time to do away with DST, for the sake of the mental and physical health of all.