It’s time to spring forward again and trade an hour of sleep for an hour of sunlight.
Daylight saving time will begin at 2 a.m. Sunday, March 13, when clocks will jump from 1:59 am to 3 a.m. The time change will last until 2 a.m. on Sunday, November 6.
Daylight saving time’s antiquated reputation certainly precedes it, and the notion that it was implemented in order to extend the workday for farmers has been debunked time after time.
The U.S. Department of Transportation claims that daylight saving time preserves energy, but studies showed that only around 0.5% of energy is saved during the six-month period.
Recently, however, daylight saving has been faced with more public controversy than ever. At least 19 states, including Maryland, have passed bills to switch to year-round daylight saving time, and another 22 are considering following suit.
Currently, the only U.S. states that do not observe daylight saving time are Hawaii and Arizona. However, the territories of Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands also do not participate.
In a time of such political turmoil, the switch to permanent daylight saving time seems to be one of the few debates that can unite officials from either side of the aisle.
Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida sponsored the Sunshine Protection Act of 2021 last year, which has 16 Republican and Democratic co-sponsors representing 13 states including Pennsylvania.
In 2019, Delaware passed Senate Bill 73, which proposed for the state of Delaware to permanently remain on daylight saving time, but its success is contingent on Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and New York following suit.
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It’s not just politicians who are attempting to take a stand against the 114-year-old tradition, health experts have begun to speak out, albeit with less agreement.
Researchers studied the impacts that daylight saving time has on the mental health of the general public by comparing the rate of hospitalizations for depressive episodes following the spring and fall time transitions. The 2017 study found that moving the clock behind an hour in the fall was associated with an 11% increase in recorded major depressive episodes.
“We believe that the observed association is primarily related to the psychological distress associated with the sudden advancement of sunset from 6 p.m. to 5 p.m., which marks the coming of winter and a long period of short days,” the study states.
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine takes the opposite stance, claiming that losing an hour of sleep for daylight saving time has long term detrimental health impacts.
“Current evidence best supports the adoption of year-round standard time, which aligns best with human circadian biology and provides distinct benefits for public health and safety,” stated the academy in their official position.
Regardless of the controversy, the clocks will still jump ahead one hour starting Sunday March 13. Most phones and computers will reset automatically, but make sure to check your appliances and manual clocks. While you’re at it, it might be worth heading to bed an hour earlier.
