Key Takeaways:
- The US Congress is debating making daylight saving time permanent.
- However, experts believe daylight saving has a massively negative impact on health.
NEW DELHI (CoinChapter.com) — Daylight savings time is about to end, a time when the US, Europe, parts of Canada, and several other countries move their clocks an hour back. The practice started as an energy-saving policy.
For decades, shifting the clocks during the months of maximum sunlight was promoted as a way to save energy. However, there are concerns regarding the impact of daylight savings on people’s health.
Furthermore, the US Congress pushed to make daylight-saving time permanent. The Senate unanimously passed the bill last year, but the bill has currently stalled in the House. Supporters of the bill believe it would lead to brighter afternoons and more economic activity.
U.S. Representative Frank Pallone, who chairs the Energy and Commerce Committee, told Reuters the House is still trying to reach a consensus.
We haven’t been able to find consensus in the House on this yet. There are a broad variety of opinions about whether to keep the status quo, to move to a permanent time, and if so, what time that should be.
Frank Pallone told Reuters
However, a rising number of experts believe a permanent daylight savings time could hamper sleep patterns. Studies conducted over the past 25 years reveal that the hour change throws off physiological rhythms tuned to the Earth’s rotation.
How Would Permanent Daylight Savings Time Harm Human Health
Experts believe that even a one-hour offset of our internal clocks from the solar day-night cycle puts people into what is commonly referred to as “social jet lag.”
Studies have shown that social jet lag can cause disorders like diabetes and raise the risk of heart disease and stroke. Moreover, the phenomenon can also worsen mental disorders such as depression, affect the digestive and endocrine systems and shorten sleep duration.
In addition, certain experts believe that social jet lag might even reduce life expectancy.
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Furthermore, evidence suggests that sleeping for one hour less every day for two weeks has the same impact on motor skills and reasoning as going without sleep for two whole nights. In addition, reduced sleep can also lead to inflammation, a major cause of chronic diseases.
Since chronic restriction of sleep to 6 h or less per night produced cognitive performance deficits equivalent to up to 2 nights of total sleep deprivation, it appears that even relatively moderate sleep restriction can seriously impair waking neurobehavioral functions in healthy adults.
Said one study
Hence, if the US senate passes the bill to make daylight savings permanent, the impact on health could be devastating. People would have to go to work an hour earlier for an additional 5 months, increasing the impact of sleep deprivation.
If we want to improve human health, we should not fight against our body clock, and therefore, we should abandon DST and return to Standard Time throughout the year. This solution would fix both the acute and the chronic problems of DST. We therefore strongly support removing DST changes or removing permanent DST
Said a statement from Society for Research on Biological Rhythms
When Is Daylight Saving Time 2022 Ending
The daylight saving time would end on Nov 6, 2022. However, the Sunshine Protection Act of 2021 still remains in the house, with its path ahead unclear.
