Q&A of the Day – Permanent Daylight-Saving Time vs. Permanent Standard Time
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
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Today’s Entry: @brianmuddradio DST is bad for children at bus stops. We should do permanent Standard Time instead.
Bottom Line: Welcome to the most dangerous day of the year. A day where if you’re normal you’re running on 40-minutes less sleep. A day where stroke and heart attack risks rise by 10%. A day where you’re 11% more likely to be depressed and yes, due to all of the above, a day in which you’re most at risk of being in an auto accident. Most at risk of being injured in one. Most at risk of dying from one. Other than that, and the financial market fallout from the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, happy Monday! On Friday, I once again made the case for Florida’s Sunshine Protection Act, passed in 2017, to finally be recognized with Marco Rubio and Rick Scott’s federal proposal being passed this year. If it were to happen, Sunday would have been the last time we’d ever change time in Florida. But there remains a contingent, commonly led by select parents and sleep experts, which say that we should change the time, one more time and stay in permanent Standard Time. Which is better? Let’s dive in.
First and foremost, permanent Standard Time is the most common form of time in the world with 60% of countries on that system of time. Does that mean it’s better? It depends on what your consideration is. Something every study of sleep experts I’ve ever seen has suggested is that we should stop time changes. Likewise, virtually all studies from sleep experts suggest we should adopt permanent Standard Time instead of DST. Why? While the amount of actual daylight and darkness is static, regardless of what timetable we adopt, what isn’t is what regulates our Circadian Rhythm, or body clock. It’s predominantly regulated by sunrise instead of sunset. That means a time schedule which prioritizes sunlight earlier in the day is theoretically better than one which prioritizes it later in the day. So, if maximizing sleep is our society’s top priority than yes, Standard Time is better. Then there’s the PTA argument which centers around school children standing for school buses in the dark more often during the year.
There are a lot of ways I could address the point, but I’ll use Florida as a guide. If we were to choose permanent standard time the earliest sunrise would be 5:32 in the Summer. If we were to choose permanent DST, the latest sunrise would be right at 8:00 in the winter. On a personal note, at the extremes you can ask yourself. Would you rather have the sunrise at 5:30 or 8:00? But today’s question wasn’t about sleep or preferences, it was about school children standing at bus stops. It’s true that Standard Time would mean less time for children in the dark at bus stops. But is this the best path forward?
Now that I’ve established the case for Standard Time, how about weighing those potential benefits against those for permanent Daylight-Saving Time. Once again here are those: A 2017 study by JPMorgan suggested Florida’s economy losses between $12 to $26 billion annually due to the change. Using Morgan’s data from six years ago I’ve calculated that to equal $15 billion to $32 billion annually today. It’s an economic case. I'll not make this complicated because it’s easily understood. Are you more likely to stay out and enjoy life in the summer when the days are longer or in the winter when the days are shorter? Thus, favoring a schedule which prioritizes sunlight later in the day provides an economic stimulus effect – an effect which is especially strong in a state like ours which thrives on tourists and visitors. So, on the surface the case for DST vs. Standard time is an economic one vs a potentially health/public safety driven one. But it’s not that easy.
Ask yourself. When do you tend to feel the best and are happiest? In the winter with short days or summer with long ones? Then ask yourself what the long-term mental health impact might be of prioritizing a clock which errors on the side of shorter days (unless most people suddenly start waking up at 5:30). That mitigates the perceived health benefit. Sleep schedules might theoretically be better with Standard Time schedules by mental health isn’t. And relative to the concern with children at bus stops, in Florida the average time school starts across all grade levels is 8:09. If we’re adjusting time, why wouldn’t it also be possible to slightly adjust school start times if this is a critical concern? Speaking of research, there’s an endless amount of it which suggests later school start times are more conducive for children learning anyway. Yes, some parents with specific work schedules might have a new challenging consideration, but then again there’s always going to be inconvenience to some people when choosing a lane. This would be a low single-digit percentage consideration compared to one which at some level would impact every Floridian otherwise. With all of this said. From where I sit. I’d take either if it meant stopping time changes. But yes, the case for DST is generally stronger, especially for Florida.