One sleep expert is not enthused by the push to make daylight saving time permanent and said his colleagues feel the same way.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the consensus of the sleep medicine community that going to permanent daylight saving time is a mistake,鈥� Dr. Nathaniel Watson told 草莓传媒. 鈥淓ssentially, it will dose every American with permanent jet lag.鈥�
Watson is a professor of neurology at the University of Washington and co-director of the .
鈥淭he rising and setting of the sun has entrained our circadian rhythms 鈥� our biological clock 鈥� for countless millennia,鈥� he said. With permanent daylight saving time, 鈥測ou get our internal body clock out of sync with the sun clock.鈥�
Daylight saving time takes light from the morning and puts it in the evening 鈥渁nd we know every additional hour of evening light results in 19 minutes less sleep,鈥� Watson said. Less sleep is associated with a host of health problems, including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, mental health issues and an increased cancer risk, he said.
Additionally, 鈥淚n the winter, when you鈥檙e waking up three hours or more before sunrise, that鈥檚 going to be painful.鈥�
Watson said he wants to see standard time adopted year-round, but said the current system of two time changes a year is preferable to year-round daylight saving time.
He pointed out that permanent daylight saving time was tried before, back in the 1970s, and did not go well 鈥� with people complaining of problems, including dark mornings.
A shift to permanent daylight saving time would mean the D.C.-area would not have sunrises until nearly 8:30 a.m. in parts of December and January, though November and December鈥檚 early sunsets would be pushed back to around 5:45 p.m.
The has said it 鈥渁pplauds the Senate for passing a bill to establish a national, fixed, year-round time in the U.S.鈥� But it cautioned “that making daylight saving time permanent overlooks potential health risks that can be avoided by establishing permanent standard time instead.鈥�
