Millions of Americans will have to get used to waking up in darkness during the winter if the plan to make Daylight Saving Time permanent clears one more hurdle in Congress.
The US House of Representatives advanced the measure on July 14, passing the bipartisan Sunshine Protection Act by a vote of 308-117. The bill now heads to the Senate.
If approved and signed into law by President Donald Trump, who has been a supporter of the measure, Americans would no longer have to change their clocks twice a year.
While the headache of changing the time on all your watches and other appliances will be over, the new reality would mean later sunrises from November to March, with the sun rising in certain parts of the US well after 8am.
In fact, in northern US cities, such as Detroit, Minneapolis and Indianapolis, the sun would rise just after 9am local time in January 2027.
Meanwhile, sunrise will shift to between 8am and 8.30am for most major cities throughout the US in December and January, including in New York, Miami, Boston, Washington, Chicago, Dallas, Denver and San Francisco.
For 50 million children attending school in the US, it means classes could soon begin before the sun rises in the morning.
For tens of millions of working adults, it would mean the morning rush to the office, typically between 6.30am and 9.30am, would take place almost entirely in darkness throughout the winter.
The trade-off, which supporters of the bill have been lobbying for, would be more sunshine throughout the afternoon and evening, with sunset coming after 6pm in many cities.
Currently, the US ‘falls back’ one hour and recognizes standard time from the first Sunday in November to the second Sunday in March.
This has led to sunsets coming before 5pm throughout most of the US from late November to early January.
For example, if the US were to change the clocks again this year, sunset in New York City would come at 4.30pm on December 15.
President Trump has repeatedly called for ending the clock changes, writing in a May Truth Social post: ‘We are going with the far more popular alternative, Saving Daylight, which gives you a longer, brighter Day – And who can be against that – This is an easy one!’
‘It means more sunlight at the end of the day so Americans can return safely from work and children can return safely from school,’ Kentucky Republican Brett Guthrie, who leads the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said before the bill advanced to the House floor.
Arizona has permanently observed standard time and does not adjust its clocks twice a year.
It is unclear if Arizona would be compelled to observe Daylight Saving Time as the new standard time if the bill passes the Senate as currently written.
Sunrises throughout the US could be drastically delayed under a plan in Congress to make Day Saving Time permanent. In some northern cities, sunrise could come after 9am in winter
Currently, most of the US, except for Hawaii and Arizona, changes the clock twice a year in observance of Daylight Saving Time
Daylight Saving Time became a regular national rule with the Uniform Time Act of 1966, giving people more natural daylight in the evenings during warmer months, which saves electricity and encourages more outdoor activities.
However, the biannual clock-changing ritual has been under fire for years, as health experts and multiple studies have concluded that ‘falling back’ and ‘springing ahead’ cause serious disruptions to the body’s natural sleep-wake cycle.
Known as circadian rhythms, these are the body’s internal 24-hour clock that regulates sleep, hormones, alertness and digestion.
Clock changing has been associated with an increased risk of sleep problems, heart issues, mood changes, car accidents and workplace errors in the days immediately following the time shift.
Specifically, a team from the University of Chicago and Sweden’s Karolinska Institute discovered that losing that hour of sleep in the spring ramps up risks for heart problems by 4 percent.
The study in PLOS Computational Biology also determined that car crashes increased by 30 percent and mental health issues rose by 9 percent.
Meanwhile, earlier sunsets in the evenings after falling back can suppress serotonin production and make cases of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) even worse, potentially leading to depression.
A 2017 study by a team at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark uncovered that falling back leads to an 11-percent jump in hospital visits for depression over the next ten weeks.
The research published in Epidemiology used hospital records from over 3.7 million people in the US to find out how the sudden shifts in daylight worsen mood problems.
The new reality would mean darker mornings commutes from November to March
The Sunshine Protection Act, which would make Daylight Saving Time permanent, was passed by the House of Representatives 308-117 on July 14. It must now go through the Senate
The White House has endorsed the bill, calling it ‘a popular, common-sense reform’ that would preserve daylight during the hours when most Americans are awake and active.
Medical groups, including the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, have opposed making Daylight Saving Time the norm, arguing that year-round standard time better aligns with the body’s natural sleep cycle.
However, the Republican-led bill has received bipartisan support, with some Democrats already signaling they will support the measure in the Senate.
Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington state, posted on social media: ‘Leader Thune should bring this bill to a vote in the Senate so we can finally get this done. More sunshine. Less depression. Let’s finally lock the clock!’
