All in favor of permanent standard time

Why do so many of us miss the benefits of morning sunlight?

Dec 17, 2024

In a social media post on November 3rd, The New York Times declared the end of daylight saving time “reliably one of the most dispiriting dates on the calendar.” I disagree. Insisting everyone has a bad experience with “falling back” isn’t just reductionist—it dismisses evidence that standard time is physically and mentally healthier for us than daylight saving time. (Sounds like the opposite of “dispiriting” to me.)

Most people are in agreement that the time change sucks: 75 percent of Americans want to stop adjusting the clocks. Which time we should stay on is up for greater debate: In the same survey, 43 percent wanted permanent standard time and 32 percent preferred daylight saving… while different data suggested 31 percent for standard and 50 percent for daylight saving.

The choice is often presented as a mere battle of personal preference between early risers and night owls. But these conversations could be an opportunity to question our society’s relationship with work, evaluate recent research, and make healthier decisions—while recognizing what’s best in the long run might not always feel like the path of least resistance. (After all: Don’t so many humans consider our ability to delay gratification one of the core traits that makes us more “advanced” than fellow animals?)

What changed my own mind about standard time

I used to hate the end of daylight saving. I erroneously conflated standard time’s arrival with shortened days overall, failing to recognize that winter darkness comes regardless—the only thing our government has control over is precisely how it’s allocated. I saw the first weekend in November as “less daylight.” In reality, it’s less evening light and more morning light.

When I was an exhausted college student, morning light meant nothing to me. Same when I crammed all enriching activities into the hours after my office job. It wasn’t until my decade-long struggle for quality sleep got even worse that I decided to test becoming an “early bird.” I made myself rise at the same time every day. I went outside to watch the sunrise (or, depending on its timing, at least observed low-angle sunlight within my first hour of being awake). And it helped.

Of everything I’ve tried—lavender oil on my pillow, melatonin beneath my tongue, white noise and ocean waves and whale songs over a speaker, booting electronics from bed, fasting after 6 pm, a sundry list—consistent morning light boasts the greatest impact.

That’s not anecdotal just to me.

Definition time: What are DST and ST, anyway?

“Daylight saving” (or commonly, the erroneous “daylight savings”) has become synonymous with the twice-yearly time change itself. Not so!

Daylight saving time is “time adjusted to achieve longer evening daylight in summer by setting the clocks an hour ahead of the standard time.” In the United States, daylight saving starts on the second Sunday in March (“spring forward”) and ends on the first Sunday in November (“fall back”).
Standard time is “a uniform time for places in approximately the same longitude, established in a country or region by law or custom.” Sometimes it’s known as “winter time”. Depending on exactly where you are in your time zone, the sun should reach its highest point around midday in standard time.
The Sunshine Protection Act is a proposed federal law to make daylight saving time permanent in the United States. Supporters often present it as a bid to “end daylight savings time”—but it would actually end standard time.

A timeline of America’s time zones

The United States first adopted daylight saving time in 1918 as a temporary measure during World War I.
In 1942, President Roosevelt instituted year-round daylight saving time, called War Time. It lasted until 1945. Afterward some states adopted summer DST.
Daylight saving as we know it now was standardized in 1966 thanks to the Uniform Time Act. States can opt out of DST to observe permanent standard time, but they can’t stay on permanent DST.
In 1974, the United States tried enacting permanent daylight saving time. Over December to March, public support dropped from 79 percent to 42 percent. The measure was revoked within a year.
In March 2018, the Florida Senate approved the Sunshine Protection Act to put Florida on year-round daylight saving time. Congress would need to amend the 1966 Uniform Time Act to allow this change. (In 2022, the Sunshine Protection Act passed the United States Senate without committee review—many senators later said they were unaware of the vote’s topic.)

Why permanent standard time (earlier sunrises, earlier sunsets) is healthier for us

Major sleep organizations like the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, National Sleep Foundation, and Sleep Research Society are in favor of permanent standard time. “Permanent daylight saving time would cause year-round problems for our sleep, alertness, mood and health,” says sleep medicine physician Dr. Karin Johnson.

This is because it’s more important for our circadian rhythms—a driving force of sleep quality, focus, and emotional state—to see sunlight in the morning than in the evening. (Midday has almost no effect at all, earning those hours the name “circadian dead zone.”)

Our bodies are affected by the type and timing of light

The spectral composition of daylight changes over the course of the day. Mornings provide more shorter wavelength blue light; afternoons see an increase in longer wavelength red light.

You might have heard blue light is bad for you. This idea (popularized by blue-light-blocking glasses for computer workers) is only partially true: Blue light’s impact depends on timing. “Bright early morning light, particularly if blue enriched, can stimulate the circadian system and advance its timing, and positively impact alertness and mood, helping individuals to get ready for a new day,” writes Dr. Ticleanu of the Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering at University College London. “In contrast, relatively dim and blue-depleted evening light, or even darkness before bedtime, can help maintain natural levels of melatonin and avoid disruption of sleep and circadian rhythms.”

While blue light disrupts our sleep-wake process at night, it’s actually healthy for us early in the day.

The Cortisol Awakening Response

When we view bright light shortly after waking, we experience an increase in cortisol that helps us feel alert. Cortisol has become synonymous with stress in scientific literature, earning a negative connotation—but it’s more nuanced than that. Once again, timing matters: The ideal time for elevated cortisol levels is early in the day. (Researchers call this the “Cortisol Awakening Response” or CAR.)

Circadian rhythms, cognitive deficits, and sleep disorders

Sleep disorders are correlated with cognitive deficits. We know this intuitively: When we don’t get enough rest, we can’t focus! What’s less widely understood is the importance of a consistent circadian rhythm. It’s not just about how much we sleep—it’s about when. Humans function best when we rest and wake around the same time day over day, allowing our bodies to settle into a routine.

One cause of dysfunctional circadian rhythms and associated sleep disorders: Inadequate environmental light, like the early-morning darkness we experience during daylight saving time. “Discovering the environment's impact on cognitive functioning within the context of [sleep] disorders may lead not only to better understanding of the disorders, but also to the development of targeted interventions to enhance everyday functioning and quality of life,” write the authors of a cross-sectional study in Environmental Health.

Even brief exposure to morning sunlight might help people suffering from sleep disorders. Low-angle light at the right time of day can help us get better rest the following night, elevating mood and improving overall cognitive performance.

We need low-angle sunlight early in the morning

We should get morning light before 8 am whenever possible. If the sun doesn’t rise until after that, we’re thrown out of whack—and that’s exactly what permanent daylight saving time would do.

Under DST, here’s when the sun would rise on New Year’s Day in different parts of the United States:

8:20 am in NYC
8:08 am in Miami
8:18 am in Chicago
8:21 am in Denver
8:30 am in San Antonio
7:59 am in Los Angeles

Does turning lights on inside do the trick? While our technology for emulating sunlight is improving, indoor light doesn’t usually regulate our internal clocks like natural sunlight. “Typical daytime lighting in the home environment has been found to be insufficient for stimulating the circadian system and therefore most residents may effectively be living in biological darkness,” notes Ticleanu.

What about seasonal depression?

“Substantial research and clinical experience indicate that exposure to bright light at 10,000 lux for 7 days per week for 30 minutes before 8 a.m. results in substantial improvement in SAD and subsyndromal SAD for most patients,” notes the Yale School of Medicine. Despite popular perception that the end of daylight saving time makes seasonal affective disorder worse, the morning light we’re able to experience during standard time actually helps. “Experts say flooding your eyes with bright light immediately after waking is one of the most effective ways to mitigate the effects of SAD, in addition to improving your quality of sleep overall,” writes Vox senior reporter Allie Volpe.

For people struggling with SAD, the data is clear: Get morning light as much as possible. While our circadian rhythms can shift pretty rapidly—most people start seeing effects within a week—it does still take time. Rising earlier for a single day isn’t enough to experience results.

The United States already tried permanent daylight saving time

As noted earlier: Our country already tried permanent DST. (Emphasis on tried.)

“To reduce energy consumption, Congress passed a law that would have made daylight saving time permanent for two years,” writes Trey Delida in The Council of State Governments Capitol Ideas Magazine. “[T]hey eventually voted to undo the change just 10 months in.” People thought they wanted daylight saving all winter long—at first, nearly 80 percent of Americans supported the law—but flipped when they realized how much late sunrises affected them. Public support fell to 42 percent before the measure was revoked.

Our current government is divided on the issue. Massachusetts Senator Patrick O’Connor believes the movement for permanent daylight saving (the Sunshine Protection Act) has stronger name recognition. If citizens understood what standard time was, though—and were educated on its health benefits—they’d rally behind it. He hopes to stop observing DST.

Organizations in favor of permanent standard time include the:

American Medical Association
American Academy of Sleep Medicine
National Sleep Foundation
Sleep Research Society
Society for Research on Biological Rhythms
National PTA, National Education Association, American Federation of Teachers, and National School Boards Association

The real trouble lies in not honoring our cyclical nature

Less daylight is tough no matter what—especially in a society where we’re expected to keep the same work hours to produce as much output as during brighter months. The majority of complaints against permanent standard time have little to do with sunset timing itself and more to do with how work schedules preclude certain activities in the winter.

“Seasonal changes are normal in human beings living away from the equator. Nature seems to have intended human beings to slow down in the winter season,” notes Yale’s Winter Depression Research Clinic. “Seasonality is ubiquitous in any living being on this planet,” concurs Dr. Dieter Kunz, a clinical psychiatrist, sleep researcher, and clinical chronobiologist at the Clinic of Sleep & Chronomedicine at the St Hedwig Hospital, Berlin. “Even though we still perform unchanged, over the winter human physiology is down-regulated, with a sensation of ‘running-on-empty’ in February or March. In general, societies need to adjust sleep habits including length and timing to season or adjust school and working schedules to seasonal sleep needs.”

“Bosses should say ‘I don't care when you come to work, come when you have slept to your biological end, because we both will win from this situation’,” chronobiologist Till Roenneberg tells Laurie Clark of Inc. Magazine. “You will give your best performance. You will have a better time at work because you will feel how efficient you are. And the sick days will be reduced.”

Of course, it’s naive to think workplaces, especially in our current version of capitalism, will get on board with this. That doesn’t mean there’s no hope for change. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies refused to let employees work remotely. They insisted it would deplete performance. Today thousands of businesses, from small startups to large corporations, have switched to full-time remote models. The number of Americans working from home increased nearly 20 percent from 2019 to 2021.

It’s more naive to think every workplace even can get on board with this. Essential organizations in the service, sanitation, and manufacturing industries, for example, don’t have the privilege of adjusting their availability on a whim (however scientifically sound the motivation). Their constant output sustains society. Are there still ways to better respect humans’ natural cycles within this framework? Absolutely—but it’s not simple. Recognizing that the core issue with daylight saving is outlandish productivity expectations raises more questions than answers.

At the individual level, as we seek systemic change: It’s hard to make adjustments to our winter schedules. If we’re down because of less daylight overall, chances are we don’t feel motivated—don’t even feel capable—to commit to a new routine. It becomes chicken and egg. Consistent morning light can boost our mood, focus, and health in the long term. But starting to get that light can seem impossible when we’re already fatigued.

“Happy lamps” might help kickstart our days. Limiting screen time at night lets us fall asleep earlier, enabling us to see the morning sun after a longer period of rest. And personal boundaries, when possible, can carve out more recharge time in winter.

Last year I set a rule that I don’t do client work after dark. (As a freelance writer with a flexible schedule, I recognize the privilege I have to even attempt such a routine.) Setting aside evenings for activities like reading and journaling remarkably improved my winter experience: sleep, mood, focus, writing quality, ambition, you name it. I’m sometimes up at 5 am to get a head start on my to-do list, but it’s worth it.

In a perfect world…

Every state would remain on standard time year round.
We humans (who are animals!) wouldn’t be expected to keep the same work hours or produce the same output during winter’s increased darkness as in summer’s lengthy days.
Flexible work schedules would allow as many people as possible to see morning light, year round, before heading into the office.
We’d provide greater support to shift workers, service industry employees, and others unable to adjust their schedules—people whose roles are central to our society’s success—to mitigate the effects of keeping their bodies out of alignment with the sun.

If the experts and I have you convinced? Start locally. Push your representatives to stop switching to DST in the summer. The more states that do this, the greater the ripple effect. (Hawaii and Arizona already observe permanent standard time.)