Daylight saving time ended this year on Sunday, Nov. 3, which means that the sun now sets and rises earlier. Daylight time provides one more hour of sunlight during spring and summer, and when it ends in autumn, Americans turn back the clocks one hour.
Daylight time has been implemented in the U.S. since 1918, when, during World War I, it was established to save fuel and energy. Later, the Uniform Time Act of 1966 established the switch to daylight time as permanent, except in Hawaii and Arizona (excluding the Navajo Nation) which are the only states to observe standard time year-round.
Although America has been observing this switch for decades now, some states have proposed ending this constant change and establishing a standard time. In Michigan, State Rep. Bill G. Schuette (R-Midland) proposed the “Sunshine Protection Act” to place Michigan on standard time year-round. But what is wrong with the constant switch to and from daylight time?
Philip Cheng, associate professor of medicine at Henry Ford Health, says that changing clocks twice a year can disrupt circadian rhythms which can “cause sleep deprivation, mood swings and even weight gain,” comparing the change to getting “jet lag without having traveled.” This means that the “seasonal depression” many Americans’ experience with the winter can be exacerbated by the shift away from daylight time.
Additionally, the change in and out of daylight time has been correlated with increasing deer-vehicle collisions. In a 2022 study, researchers from the University of Washington observed 1,012,465 deer-vehicle collisions and 96 million hourly traffic observations across the United States. They found that collisions are “14 times more frequent 2 hours after sunset than before sunset” and that these accidents increase by 16% in the week following the end of daylight time. This suggests that traffic during dark hours is a key determinant of deer-vehicle collision risk. Moreover, eastern states, where the sun often sets earlier than western states, have an average of 1.35 times more collisions. Researchers in this study concluded that permanent daylight time will allow for reductions in low-light traffic and deer-vehicle collisions, saving nearly 37,000 deer lives annually.
Andrews University students have many different feelings about daylight time.
Rod Olofernes (junior, medical laboratory science) feels daylight time is “unnecessary as we can simply adjust plans accordingly to the shorter days. It’s often a ‘jump scare’ when the clock moves forward and I miss an hour of sleep. On the bright side, this … time change is often a relaxing welcome.”
Meanwhile, Megan Lee (freshman, biology) believes that “daylight saving is confusing to keep track of, but I appreciate when we gain an hour extra.”
Another student who appreciates the extra hour of sleep, Ian Staples (freshman, secondary education) replies with great enthusiasm because he “desperately needs it so I can get an extra hour of sleep.” Nevertheless, he still experiences the problem with dusk starting too early “making me tired and making me sleep earlier than I should.”
On the other hand, some international students will possibly be experiencing this time change for the first time.
International student Airi Yamabe (freshman, elementary education) responded with surprise because “this hasn’t been implemented in Japan” and this “concept of summer time and winter time” was quite recent to her.
The Michigan Senate’s proposed bill for year-round standard time is on hold and students’ experiences with daylight time are already finished. See you on the other side of the time change, in March!
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.