We’ve all been there. It’s 4:30 PM in late November, you look out the window, and it’s pitch black. It feels like the world is ending. You're tired, the kids are cranky, and you haven't even started dinner. Every single year, like clockwork, a massive wave of internet collective screaming begins: Why do we keep doing this to ourselves? Why can't we just make daylight savings time permanent and call it a day?
It seems so simple.
But it’s actually a mess. A giant, bureaucratic, scientific, and historical mess.
Most people think the biggest hurdle to stopping the "spring forward" and "fall back" cycle is just getting Congress to agree on something for once. In 2022, we actually thought we had it. The Sunshine Protection Act, spearheaded by Senator Marco Rubio, actually passed the Senate by unanimous consent. People rejoiced. Then, it hit the House of Representatives and died a quiet, lonely death. Why? Because while everyone hates changing their clocks, nobody can agree on which time to keep.
The 1974 Experiment Everyone Forgot
We've actually tried this before.
Back in the winter of 1974, President Richard Nixon signed a law to make daylight savings time permanent as a response to the 1973 oil embargo. The idea was that more afternoon light would save energy. In January, it was great for about a week. Then the reality of a 9:00 AM sunrise hit.
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Imagine sending your seven-year-old to a bus stop in total, midnight-level darkness. That’s exactly what happened. Florida saw a spike in accidents involving children walking to school in the dark. Parents were—rightfully—livid. Public support for the permanent change plummeted from 79% in December to 42% by February. Congress scrambled and repealed the law before the year was even out.
History has a funny way of repeating itself when we ignore the details.
What Your Body Actually Wants (Hint: It's Not More Sun at 8 PM)
If you talk to sleep scientists—the real experts at places like the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM)—they’ll tell you that trying to make daylight savings time permanent is a biological nightmare.
Our internal circadian rhythms are essentially tethered to the sun. Specifically, they are tethered to the morning light. When that first hit of blue light hits your eyes in the morning, it triggers a cascade of hormones that wake you up and, more importantly, set the timer for when you’ll feel sleepy later that night.
- Standard Time (the one we use in winter) is the closest match to our natural biological clock.
- Daylight Savings Time is an artificial shift that forces us to wake up before the sun has properly signaled our brains to "turn on."
Dr. Erin Flynn-Evans, a researcher who studies sleep and circadian physiology, has pointed out that permanent DST creates a "social jetlag." We end up permanently out of sync with the sun. This isn't just about being grumpy. Chronic sleep misalignment is linked to obesity, heart disease, and even certain types of cancer. The AASM actually released a position statement arguing that we should stay on Standard Time year-round, not DST. But let’s be real: "Permanent Standard Time" has a terrible PR team. Nobody wants the sun to set at 4:00 PM in the summer.
The Energy Myth and the Business of Light
The biggest argument for why we should make daylight savings time permanent is often energy savings. It sounds logical. If it’s light later, you don’t turn on your lamps, right?
Maybe in 1918.
Modern studies, like those conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research, have found that any savings in lighting are usually wiped out by increased air conditioning use in the evenings. If it’s 85 degrees and sunny at 7:00 PM, your AC is cranking.
The real pushers for permanent DST aren't energy companies; they're retailers. The "Lobby of Light" is a real thing. The golf industry, barbecue manufacturers, and even candy companies (hello, Halloween) love DST. More light in the evening means more people stopping at the store on the way home, more rounds of golf played, and more gas burned in cars. According to the Association for Convenience and Fuel Retailing, the extra month of DST we added back in 2005 resulted in a massive boost for the industry.
Money talks. Health often whispers.
The Geographic Reality: It Sucks More for Some
The United States is huge.
If you live in Boston, your experience with time is radically different than if you live in Indianapolis, even though you’re in the same time zone. Indiana is on the far western edge of the Eastern Time Zone. If we were to make daylight savings time permanent, people in cities like Indianapolis or Detroit wouldn't see the sun until nearly 9:30 AM in the dead of winter.
That is a long time to wait for the sun.
On the flip side, people in the Pacific Northwest already deal with incredibly short days. For them, the evening light is a lifeline for mental health. This geographic divide is why the Sunshine Protection Act keeps stalling. Lawmakers from different regions are looking at completely different sunrise/sunset charts and realizing their constituents are going to be miserable no matter what.
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Real-World Impact: The Heart Attack Spike
You've probably heard the stat that heart attacks spike on the Monday after we "spring forward." It's true. A study published in Open Heart found a 24% increase in heart attack admissions on that specific Monday. The stress of losing just one hour of sleep, combined with the sudden shift in our internal timing, is enough to tip the scales for people who are already at risk.
But here’s the kicker: we don't see that same spike when we "fall back."
This is the strongest argument for picking a time and sticking to it. The "change" is the killer. Whether we choose Standard or Daylight, the act of switching twice a year is objectively bad for human health. It causes more car accidents, more workplace injuries, and more "cyberloafing" (people wasting time online because they're too tired to work).
How to Actually Fix Your Life if We Stay Stuck
Since it doesn't look like Congress is going to make daylight savings time permanent this week, you have to manage the fallout yourself. It’s about harm reduction.
- Stop the Sunday Slump: Don't wait until Sunday night to change your internal clock. Start shifting your bedtime by 15 minutes each night starting the Wednesday before the change.
- Morning Light is Non-Negotiable: If you’re struggling with the dark mornings, get a light therapy box. 10,000 lux for 20 minutes while you eat breakfast. It sounds like hippie stuff, but it's basic biology. It resets your suprachiasmatic nucleus (the brain's master clock).
- Check Your State Laws: Currently, states can opt out of Daylight Savings Time (like Arizona and Hawaii) and stay on Standard Time. However, federal law prohibits states from staying on Daylight Savings Time year-round. If you want permanent DST, you actually need a change in federal law. Nineteen states have already passed internal laws saying "we'll do it as soon as the feds let us."
The debate isn't going away. We are caught between the desire for long summer nights and the biological necessity of morning light. Until we can find a way to make the sun stay up longer without shifting the clock, we're stuck in this tug-of-war.
Actionable Next Steps
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If you're tired of the back-and-forth, the best thing you can do is focus on your own sleep hygiene during the transition weeks. Prioritize a consistent wake-up time regardless of what the clock says. If you feel strongly about the legislative side, track the progress of the Sunshine Protection Act (or its successor) through the Congressional Budget Office reports, which often detail the economic impacts that actually move the needle for representatives. Lastly, advocate for later school start times in your local district; this mitigates the biggest danger of permanent DST—children commuting in the dark—and aligns better with adolescent biological needs regardless of which time zone we settle on.