On Sunday morning, clocks will fall back an hour and resume ticking on standard time which means the circadian cycles of Americans can realign to more natural rhythms: Soon the 2023 daylight saving period will go to bed.
As a wartime policy to conserve fuel, daylight saving was first established in the U.S. in 1918 under the Standard Time Act. The practice returned during World War Two and was made permanent in 1966 to create uniformity across the country for transportation purposes.
However, research shows the time shift in the spring takes a toll on people's health: When clocks jump forward in March, there are increases in heart attacks and strokes. Some patients also experience more seizures or migraines, said Dr. Joanna Fong-Isariyawongse, an associate professor of Neurology at the University of Pittsburgh.
"It's also like injecting jetlag into our body, and that's really unnatural and unhealthy," said Fong-Isariyawongse, who also sees adverse effects on patients this time of year when clocks return to standard time in early November, though not as severe.
People don't do well with time change in the spring due to our circadian rhythm, which is primarily dictated by sunlight. Physicians say forcing our bodies to wake earlier brings us out of alignment with this 24-hour cycle that regulates digestion, temperature and sleep.
Allegheny Health Network’s Dr. Danial Shade directs the system’s sleep medicine department. He says the U.S. should stick to standard time all year: “That’s what our bodies want, that’s what our circadian rhythm is used to, to be aligned with the sun. It's just the way we're built.”
A 2016 study blames the sleep deprivation that occurs after clocks jump forward in the spring for the increase in fatal car crashes. However, another study found that drivers are more likely to hit deer with their cars after the switch to standard time -- people are more likely to be behind the wheel when it's dark, and deer are active.
Mexico abolished daylight saving in 2022. The American Medical Association and American Academy of Sleep Medicine want the U.S. to do the same, though that's unlikely. There's even a push to make daylight saving permanent: In 2022, the U.S. Senate passed The Sunshine Protection Act, which stalled in the House.
Senator Marco Rubio sponsored the legislation; he argues that staying on a daylight-saving schedule would eliminate many adverse health outcomes associated with switching clocks forward and back. And it would conserve energy while encouraging people to be more active due to the extra hour of light in the evening.
In the meantime, AHN’s Shade recommends that people take advantage of Sunday's extra hour of sleep. And to make Sunday's transition smoother, Fong-Isariyawongse at UPMC suggests staying up 10 or 15 minutes later, “That way, their body is not going to feel that abrupt shift.”
