Sunshine for Owls

Permanent daylight savings time is a better option than standard

On Tuesday, March 15, the Senate unanimously passed legislation to permanentize daylight savings time in the Sunshine Protection Act. The timing of the bill could not be more apt. Like the rest of America, most senators woke up with a lost hour of sleep the previous weekend, which most likely contributed to the unanimous vote between sleep-deprived cantankerous senators.

The Sunshine Protection Act would end the biannual changing of clocks to standard time in November and daylight savings time in March, which has been a staple since at least 1918. The bill still has to pass the House, and the expedited process of this bill in the senate essentially punts the decision to Congress. It is rare for the senate, which is essentially responsible for much of the current gridlock despised by many Americans, to reach majority consent. They unanimously passed the 2020 Covid relief bill under the Trump administration, but that took a dangerous oncoming pandemic. This bill was merely good timing for a measure that many consider overdue.

Year-round DST has been popular in state legislation even if they have so far lacked the ability to successfully install it permanently. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 promoted the observance of DST at the same time of the year and at the same local time in each state – unsurprisingly, instate travel while observing many different time zones was inconvenient. No state had to observe DST, but if they did follow it, they had to do so during the same time as every other state. Hawaii and Arizona stuck with standard time, and many states have attempted legislation to do the same unsuccessfully. While year-round standard time change legislation (which is in accordance with the Universal Time Act) has stalled at the state level, sixteen states have year-round DST legislation already passed and are waiting for enaction once or if Congress ever amends its 1966 bill.

Over the past few years, polling has indicated marked public support for ending changing clocks. A YouGov poll from November 2021 had 63% of U.S. citizens in favor of eliminating the change, with only 16% opposed. Of respondents in favor of the resolution, DST was chosen as the preference going forward by 48% to 29%.

Standard vs. Daylight Saving Time

There has been a wave of media reactions and expert opinions offered on the subject since the Senate vote. The most common argument in favor of standard time has come from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, with a statement in favor of sticking with standard because it more closely aligns with the intrinsic human circadian rhythm. The AASM has had comments appear in all the newspapers of record, and for a good reason! Sleep health is an area where Americans are failing, and it makes sense if we can correct that with a simple switch to standard year-round.

The science does not seem nearly as clear as the AASM has stated. Its position can be found here in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.

“The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) is a professional society that advances sleep care and enhances sleep health to improve lives. The AASM advocates for policies that recognize that sleep is essential to health.

The period of the year between spring and fall, when clocks in most parts of the United States (U.S.) are set one hour ahead of standard time, is called daylight saving time (DST), and its beginning and ending dates and times are set by federal law (the second Sunday in March at 2:00 AM and the first Sunday in November at 2:00 AM, respectively), while the remaining period between fall and spring of the following year is called standard time.

The light/dark cycle is key in circadian entrainment. The acute alterations in timing due to transitions to and from DST contribute to misalignment between the circadian biological clock and the light/dark cycle (or photoperiod), resulting in not only acute personal disruptions, but significant public health and safety risks.”

The most significant problem with this paper is the mention of the acute effects of switching between standard time and DST. The report is half focused on the acute and half on the chronic response of DST. Still, even half a paper devoted to the acute effects of DST on an individual is incredibly unscientific when factoring in the influential confounding variable of switching to DST every year – notably, you lose an hour of sleep when switching to DST and gain an hour going back to standard. Any acute effect can be explained by either that lost hour of sleep or just the stress of changing our internal clocks an hour during the time change. For instance, “the Monday after the transition to DST, volatility in stock markets in the U.S. has been observed” is an actual line in the paper as an acute effect of switching to DST, even though the authors mention the proposed mechanism being the impact of one less hour of sleep on frontal lobe functioning.

The acute deleterious effects of switching to DST are an excellent reason to standardize a single time and end biannual clock changing but are irrelevant to whether that time should be standard or DST. DST has plenty of potential positive chronic effects that can be seen in the correlation between DST and fewer car accidents and pedestrians hit by cars. The longer daylight hours lead to lower crime rates, as a recent paper explains:

“Most street crime occurs in the evening around common commuting hours of 5 to 8 PM, and more ambient light during typical high-crime hours makes it easier for victims and passers-by to see potential threats and later identify wrongdoers.”

In support of more activity during DST, researchers analyzing the results of the American Time Use Survey found that, while attempting to control for nicer weather via temperature, the following:

“According to the ATUS data, Americans devote 165 minutes per day to indoor TV watching but spend on average 27 minutes on outdoor activities. Given the concerns about health costs and obesity, these numbers are alarming. Our finding of an additional 30 minutes spent outdoors roughly implies that an extra 10% of calories are burnt.”

The U.S. is the 12th most obese country and easily the most obese country in the west, with 36.2% of Americans exhibiting BMIs greater than 30 (Canada is second with 29.4%). Obesity is correlated with higher healthcare expenditures, decreased quality of life, disability, and premature mortality – all of which contribute to a reduction in gross domestic product for the U.S. To get an idea of the kind of reduction in GDP from high obesity rates, we have a recent study that examined Australia (29% obesity rate) and found a conservative estimate cost of obesity to be 1.7% of GDP.

If that doesn’t seem like much, the trend paints a worrisome picture for the future with obesity costing 2.5% of GDP by 2060. The paper’s authors stated that reducing the prevalence of obesity by 5% from projected levels would reduce those costs by 5.2-13.2%. Any additional caloric burn by Americans should be a goal for our health and economy. Burning an additional 10% of calories would not be the same as losing a collective 10% of body weight – keep in mind that caloric burning/physical activity is also correlated with additional caloric intake – but would still, at the very least, likely keep current obesity rates stagnant.

Larks v. Owls

We seem to have some sleep research supporting standard time and crime and physical activity supporting DST. The U.S. is generally a tired and physically lazy country that could use some policy change on both fronts. The aforementioned research is a product of society and, notably, a capitalist society that imposes rigid work schedules for all, regardless of an individual’s circadian rhythm. The typical 8 AM-5 PM day job is, therefore, more beneficial for the larks of society than the owls.

We have estimates from surveys and sleep scientists that around 40% of the population is comprised of early birds, 30% of night owls, and the remaining 30% in-between. Those that fall into the night owl chronotype are often reputed as immature and lazy. They don’t fit the early morning grind that is expected in order to work the vast majority of employment opportunities. Due to the added stress of less sleep and a disrupted circadian rhythm, night owls are also potentially twice as likely to underperform at work and be forced into early retirement due to disability. Night owl status correlates with a wide range of diseases and disorders, including psychiatric, addiction, obesity, diabetes, and dementia.

Are owls inherently unhealthy? Potentially. However, the more likely reason is the misalignment between life demands and genetic biological clocks. The argument between standard, DST, and status quo is similarly an imposition of the will of some internal clocks above others – circadian dominance. Trade-offs exist between all the options, but I find the DST consequences much easier to mitigate than the standard time drawbacks.

The lack of morning sunlight in a winter observed DST would potentially be more dangerous for kids traveling to school. If only we knew that students performed better academically and behaviorally with later start times!! Regardless of DST or standard time, we already have a well-established association between delayed start school times and increased sleep duration among adolescents, as this meta-analysis explains:

“Most studies reviewed provide evidence that delaying school start time increases weeknight sleep duration among adolescents, primarily by delaying rise times. Most of the studies saw a significant increase in sleep duration even with relatively small delays in start times of half an hour or so. Later start times also generally correspond to improved attendance, less tardiness, less falling asleep in class, better grades, and fewer motor vehicle crashes.”

Children and adolescents are falling well short of the healthy hours of sleep per night, attaining around 6.5 hours of sleep versus the recommended 8-10. For all school-board warriors upset with the trajectory of today’s youth, maybe we can try just getting the kids some shut-eye. Yes, it will stink for parents to get kids ready in the morning when they have to make it to work simultaneously. But wait, that is easily mitigated as well! We can shorten the workday by an hour in the morning and allow adults to also catch up on much-needed rest.

It is time to end circadian dominance by the early birds and embrace a more equal society for all risers. Permanent DST and shorter or delayed school and workdays would be a step in the right direction.