Daylight saving time: Explaining the century-old debate
Daylight saving time
Proposed bill: The Senate voted to end the biannual practice of “spring forward” and “fall back” under a bill that would make daylight saving time permanent — a move that reflects the increasingly popular view that the twice-yearly disruption hurts sleep and poses health and safety risks.
The debate: Most of the United States spends 34 weeks on daylight saving time. Changing the clocks twice a year has become widely viewed as not only an inconvenience, but also as a serious health and public safety concern.
Sleep experts say Senate has it wrong: Experts widely agree with the Senate that the country should abandon its twice-yearly seasonal time changes. However, many experts believe the country should adopt year-round standard time.
Be careful what you wish for: We tend to think about daylight saving time as giving us more sunlight in the evening hours (it does), but standard time also has benefits too: the Sun is up when you wake in winter. Explore how sunrise and sunset would change if permanent daylight saving time is passed.
How DST originated: For roughly two decades, nobody had any clue what time it was, with some localities observing daylight saving, some not — until President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Uniform Time Act in 1966.
Around the world: Brazil eliminated daylight saving time. Now it’s light out before 5 a.m., and people aren’t happy.
