Daylight Saving Time Could Become Permanent — Here's What Sleep Experts Thinks

In case you missed it, the United States Congress is looking to make DST permanent. Daylight saving occurs in March, when we shift the clocks one hour forward, and ends in November, when we switch back to Standard Time, moving the clocks one hour back. If the Sunshine Protection Act of 2021 becomes law, we won't turn the clocks back an hour come November 2023.

As board-certified sleep specialist Michael J. Breus, Ph.D., tells mbg, "I think the thing to remember here is that no one wants the switching back and forth anymore, but the discussion is about which time should be permanent: Daylight Saving, where it is lighter longer in the evenings, or Standard Time, where it gets lighter earlier."

As Breus tells mbg, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) has long suggested that we adopt Standard Time, not Daylight Saving Time.

According to Breus and AASM, permanent DST could lead to lasting negative health effects. Because our bodies are naturally more well aligned with Standard Time, permanent DST could disrupt our internal clocks, resulting in a permanent sleep phase delay and subsequently, chronic sleep loss. Read: Just because it's lighter at night and darker in the morning doesn't mean we won't have to get up as early for our jobs, school, etc.—but we may feel inclined to stay up later anyway.

"Daylight Saving is not consistent with our internal biological clocks, called your circadian rhythm," Breus says.

There's other evidence that suggests permanent DST could result in perpetual social jet lag, Breus adds, while Standard Time is typically associated with better physical and mental health outcomes.

And according to Shelby Harris, Ph.D., director of sleep health at Sleepopolis and author of Women's Guide to Overcoming Insomnia, "If the Sunshine Protection Act becomes law, people may experience more difficulty waking up in the morning and falling asleep at night—especially awakening in the mornings in the fall and winter."