The retail and leisure sectors have argued that more light in the evenings would give consumers more time to spend, and proponents also argue that lighter evenings would lead to fewer robberies and safer roads.
More than a dozen states have passed legislation to change daylight saving time. But it would take Congressional act to abolish the federally mandated daylight saving time period, which was instituted in 1918 by the Standard Time Act, the law that instituted federal oversight of time zones, and which has been changed countless times over time. amended. past 100 years.
Sleep scientists, including the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, hate the idea of choosing daylight saving time over standard time. While no studies have conclusively proven that standard time is best for human health, they argue that a permanent switch to daylight saving time could have dangerous long-term effects on public health.
“We are disappointed, especially given the overwhelming scientific and health sense that this is a bad idea,” Dr. Karin Johnson, a Save Standard Time board member and an associate professor of neurology at UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate, said Tuesday.
Sleep scientists point out that standard time — winter time — is more closely aligned with the sun’s progress. They say that bright mornings help people wake up and stay alert, while dark nights produce melatonin, the hormone that causes sleep. If it’s too bright at night, it can be difficult to fall asleep. If it’s too dark in the morning, it can be difficult to wake up.
Together, that could lead to chronic sleep deprivation, which has been linked to a range of health problems, including obesity, heart disease and diabetes. Light signals from the sun also regulate metabolism, insulin production, blood pressure and hormones.
“During the medical and health implications, daylight saving time is the worst choice,” said Joseph Takahashi, chair of the neuroscience division at the O’Donnell Brain Institute at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. “It makes us permanently out of step with the natural environment.”