Some US states, European countries want to stick to Daylight Saving Time, stop 'falling back'

Though much of the United States is accustomed to “falling back” and “springing forward” each year, some locations hope to do away with the biannual practice of adjusting the clocks by one hour.

In March 2019, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida introduced a bill called The Sunshine Protection Act, which aims to make DST permanent and turn it into a year-round standard time.

"Studies have shown many benefits of a year-round daylight saving time, which is why multiple states have followed Florida’s lead in voting to make it permanent,” Rubio said at the time. “I will not let daylight fade on my Sunshine Protection Act.”

In September 2020, Rubio and fellow U.S. Senator Rick Scott of Florida reintroduced the bill as a measure to deal with the pandemic, saying, “Our government has asked a lot of the American people over the past seven months, and keeping the nation on daylight saving time is just one small step we can take to help ease the burden.”

Later in 2020, Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed the act into law. But there's a catch.

According to USA Today, a total of 18 states have joined Florida in seeking to make DST permanent, and many have been signed into state law. The problem is that the laws can't go into effect without federal support, and supporting bills haven't been approved yet.

Along with most of the rest of the U.S., Arizona and Hawaii do not observe DST.

Across the Atlantic Ocean, a recent public survey revealed that 80 percent of European citizens would prefer to do away with changing the clocks twice annually, and the European Commission has recommended that nations of the European Union remain on DST for the entire year.

The change won’t go into effect until all member nations and the European Parliament approve new legislation, and that was stalled due to the pandemic as of this writing.

Daylight Saving Time drawbacks

“It appears that the primary reason some voters, activists and legislators seek to get rid of daylight saving time is that it is inconvenient and annoying, and there has never been conclusive evidence that it is worth the trouble,” said Mises Institute Communications Director Ryan McMaken, an expert in state policies and their economic impacts.

“Indeed, studies over the past decade in places as diverse as Australia and Indiana have shown that DST doesn't lead to less energy consumption — as DST's advocates have long claimed,” McMaken told AccuWeather.

McMaken added, some studies have shown that DST leads to significant health problems, including higher incidences of strokes, as well as issues with fatigue and a heightened risk of car accidents.

“These problems are related to the fatigue and lack of alertness that results from the time changes involved in switching back and forth from DST,” McMaken said.

The time changes impact our circadian rhythms of being asleep and awake, but they can also affect the rhythmic pattern of our blood pressure, according to Robert Soler, former NASA scientist and founder of BIOS Lighting.

“When we wake up at a time too early, it puts a lot of strain on our heart. As we ‘spring forward,' we see an uptick of heart attacks,” Soler told AccuWeather.

McMaken noted that much of the debate surrounds the issues with changing the clocks twice per year and not the problems of DST itself.

“Were each jurisdiction to choose a time and just stick with it, we'd likely not hear anyone mention DST ever again; it's the switching that causes most of the problems,” McMaken said.

Choosing a specific time for each populated area, as is done with time zones, has always been a largely human invention somewhat designed to match up the time on the clock with the natural human patterns that form around sunshine or lack thereof, according to McMaken.

“Adopting DST full time would likely accomplish the same thing as totally getting rid of it — avoiding the problems of the time changes that have never been shown to have any substantial benefits,” he said.

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