Daylight saving time: A 28-minute solution to end clock changes
More than 240 years after Benjamin Franklin suggested Parisians could save money on candles by waking up earlier, Americans are still stuck on changing our clocks twice a year, as if it makes sense.
Growing evidence suggests the seasonal transitions may do more harm than good.
This Sunday, November 1, Americans in most states will turn their clocks back one hour, ending daylight saving time for 2026.
In 1784, Benjamin Franklin jokingly proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles and firing cannons at sunrise.
Franklin did not actually propose changing clocks, but the idea has been attributed to him through the years to give some credibility to the argument.
To me, it shows exactly why we should stop it.
The idea is outdated, and it was not proposed as an actual policy. The article was satire.
Franklin aside, the idea of changing the clocks does go back more than a century. In 1895, New Zealand scientist George Vernon Hudson proposed seasonal clock adjustments.
British builder William Willett promoted a similar idea in 1907. Then during World War I, Germany implemented nationwide daylight-saving time in 1916 to conserve fuel.
How It Became American Law
President Woodrow Wilson signed the Standard Time Act on March 19, 1918, establishing federal time zones and daylight-saving time.
The first nationwide clock change occurred March 31, 1918.
Farmers opposed the practice because agricultural work follows sunlight and animal routines, not clock schedules.
Congress repealed the federal daylight-saving provision in 1919 over Wilson's veto. President Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced year-round “War Time” in 1942.
President Lyndon Johnson signed the Uniform Time Act in 1966, standardizing the national schedule while allowing states to opt out.
On August 8, 2005, President George W. Bush signed the Energy Policy Act.
Beginning in 2007, daylight saving time started on the second Sunday in March rather than the first Sunday in April, and ended on the first Sunday in November rather than the last Sunday in October.
Bush signed legislation passed by Congress, not an executive order.
Energy conservation was the rationale, but there is very little evidence showing it worked. Actually, the opposite seems to have happened.
The cost of cooling far outweighed the savings on lighting, as reported by a case study done at Stanford.
Health Risks and Sleep Disruption
Human circadian rhythms are synchronized in part by daylight and darkness on a 24-hour cycle.
They are not tied to the arbitrary changes governments make to the clocks we use to track time. Abrupt clock shifts can disrupt sleep and alertness.
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine supports ending seasonal clock changes and adopting permanent standard time, which better aligns with human biology.
Research has associated clock transitions with negative impacts including loss of sleep, cardiovascular issues, mood changes and traffic accidents.
A 2020 study in Current Biology examined 732,835 fatal U.S. crashes between 1996 and 2017.
Researchers associated the spring clock transition with a 6% increase in fatal crash risk and estimated that eliminating it might prevent approximately 28 fatal crashes annually.
The risks are not identical for the fall transition; changing morning and evening light creates different tradeoffs for drivers and pedestrians.
Farmers Opposed It From Go
Contrary to a common myth, farmers were among daylight saving time's early opponents.
Cows, chickens and crops do not follow the official clock. Changing schedules can complicate milking, transportation, markets and coordination with suppliers.
Farmers helped build opposition to the original federal requirement after World War I and played a key role in the repeal of President Wilson's action.
During the 1970s energy crisis, Congress experimented with year-round daylight saving time beginning in January 1974.
Complaints about children traveling to school in dark winter mornings and concerns from early workers contributed to Congress shortening the experiment.
That history reveals a crucial distinction: eliminating twice-yearly clock changes is not the same as choosing permanent daylight saving time.
Sleep researchers often favor permanent standard time, while supporters of permanent daylight saving time emphasize brighter evenings and recreation.
Supporters cite evening recreation, commerce and potential evening traffic benefits. Critics cite sleep disruption, health concerns, traffic risk and uncertain energy savings. Arizona and Hawaii already avoid seasonal clock changes.
Federal law permits states to stay on standard time year-round; nationwide permanent daylight-saving time would require a change in federal law.
My 28 Minute Solution
I had a lengthy conversation with Chief Meteorologist Dan Zarrow yesterday morning talking about the clock changes.
Dan did the math.
Here's my takeaway: There is a 3-hour natural range between the earliest and the latest sunrise and sunset.
By continuing with clock changes we've upset the natural range closing the gap to two hours between earliest sunrise in the summer (5:28a.m.) and the latest sunrise in the winter (7:27a.m.).
We've increased the range between earliest and latest sunset to 4 hours. In the summer it's 8:32p.m. and in the winter it's 4:32p.m.
Most people who are opposed to permanent standard time cite the late sunrise in the winter as harmful to kids waiting at the bus stop in the dark.
What they fail to realize is that if you have permanent daylight savings, then the latest sunrise moves to 8:21a.m.
That's bad for everyone.
You can read Dan's article explaining the math, but the bottom line is simple. If we fall back 28 minutes, the summer latest sunset would move to 8pm instead of 8:32pm.
The earliest summer sunrise would be closer to 5a.m. than 5:30a.m.
We'd move closer to the natural rhythm of the sun and the Earth's tilt, which creates the seasonal range in daylight.
Honestly, this is the least disruptive way to permanently adjust the clocks and end the twice-yearly spring-forward, fall-back disruption.
Essentially, we would have summer light hours from 5a.m. to 8p.m. and winter light hours from 720a.m. to 5p.m.
It's a way to take the best of both standard time and daylight saving time while restoring some common sense to our clocks.
Sign the petition to help us get the message to Congress.
The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Spadea. Any opinions expressed are Bill's own.
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The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Spadea. Any opinions expressed are Bill's own.
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