Staff Perspective: On the Benefits of “Falling Back” to Standard Time
It is coming up on that time change time-of-year. Many look ahead to having to change the clocks with dread, while others may go about their days in blissful ignorance until a well-meaning coworker or friend sends a reminder. When the time comes, most people will experience at least some sleep disruption, feel moody or irritable, and some will be involved in a traffic accident or work mishap.
Hopefully today we’ll lift some of that negative anticipation by sharing some of the benefits of living on standard time – and maybe even inspire you to advocate for it.
Now that your curiosity may be piqued, it is important to differentiate between talking about the impact of changing time – that is, moving from standard time to Daylight Savings time (DST) and vice versa – to the impact of the time placement itself. Clearly, changing time causes a host of negative outcomes both individually and societally. For example, the aforementioned sleep disruption, mood lability, and traffic accidents. Interestingly, while these impacts occur regardless of whether we’re springing forward into DST or falling back to standard time, the transition to DST is associated with more acute health effects (Rishi et al, 2020). These include an increase in heart attacks, stroke, emergency room visits and hospital admissions, and increased fatalities among children traveling to school in the morning darkness (Rishi et al, 2020). On the flip side, the transition back to standard time is associated with a reduction in cardiovascular events.
This actually makes sense if we think about human circadian rhythms. The biggest cue, or zeitgeber, for our bodies is light. Notwithstanding some folks who are extreme larks or owls, which is fairly rare, the majority of people are wired to wake up in the morning and experience increasing alertness throughout the day as light exposure continues with a slight dip or “siesta period” in the mid-afternoon. Once the sun sets and the major source of light exposure diminishes, melatonin is released which drives down the alerting signal and allows for sleep to occur. Thus, greater exposure to light in the morning and exposure to darkness in the evening promotes healthier, more robust circadian rhythms.
Unfortunately, because DST results in the opposite – that is, less light in the morning and more light in the evening- it essentially induces an ongoing phase delay in the human body. This delay has a host of negative consequences, from what has been termed “a variety of cellular derangements” at the physiological level including altered gene expression in core clock genes, impaired glucose control and hunger hormone regulation, and higher heart rate and blood pressure, to more systemic and behavioral impacts such as risk of diabetes, stroke, cancer, obesity, depression, and reduced sleep times, (Rishi et al, 2020; (Krishnan & Johnson, 2023). In particular, the ongoing phase delay in DST with delayed sunrises can not only reduce sleep time but also exacerbates any pre-existing sleep issues and makes it more difficult to adapt to socially required rise times (Krishnan & Johnson, 2023). In case you were wondering, it does not appear that the body adjusts to DST even after several months (Rishi et al, 2020), meaning as long as your body is operating under DST conditions you are exposed to these impacts.
Some benefits of DST for businesses have been found in sociological studies, in that DST boosts consumer spending, in particular use of credit cards, for higher gasoline, utility and health costs (Krishnan & Johnson, 2023). The trade-off is that that economic benefit does not appear to carry over to the workforce, as circadian disruption similar to that of DST has been found to reduce communication, productivity and workplace safety, and may be associated with lower average salaries (Krishnan & Johnson, 2023). Among students, DST results in reduced standardized test scores, with a disproportionate impact on disadvantaged students (Krishnan & Johnson, 2023).
Thus, while some may say they appreciate having sunlight exposure in the evening after work hours, they may be unaware of the numerous individual and public health harms to DST. Of note, an attempt at year-round DST in the 1970s was ended due to public outcry, many citing the increased car accident-related deaths that occurred among school children.
Sleep research advocates have expressed significant concerns about bills such as the proposed Sunshine Protection Act, which would federally mandate permanent DST against the recommendation of multiple medical and research societies. Now that you understand the rationale for that position, you may want to dig deeper into the research or advocate in your circles for the benefits of standard time. Sleep researchers have developed the www.savestandardtime.com website with resources.
It is the position of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine that the US eliminate seasonal time changes and adopt year-round standard time in order to promote public health and safety (Rishi et al, 2020). Moreover, it has further clarified that position to be that as detrimental as seasonal time changes are, keeping a seasonal DST would at least be better than a permanent DST (Krishnan & Johnson, 2023). Given this, you may feel inspired to learn more, share this information in your clinical practice, or advocate for standard time. At the very least, this can help reframe the upcoming time change as a positive for our bodies – and, when we get to next spring and the next start of DST to remember that it’s only temporary, at least for now!
The opinions in CDP Staff Perspective blogs are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Science or the Department of Defense.
Diana Dolan, Ph.D., CBSM, DBSM, is a clinical psychologist serving as an Assistant Director of Training & Education with the Center for Deployment Psychology at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland..
References:
Krishnan, V., & Johnson, K.G. (2023) Debunking myths about daylight saving time: ten things everyone
should know about the benefits of permanent standard time. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine
19(9):1573–1576.
Rishi, M.A., Ahmed, O., Barrantes Perez, J.H., et al. (2020) Daylight saving time: an American Academy
of Sleep Medicine position statement. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine 16(10):1781–1784.
It is coming up on that time change time-of-year. Many look ahead to having to change the clocks with dread, while others may go about their days in blissful ignorance until a well-meaning coworker or friend sends a reminder. When the time comes, most people will experience at least some sleep disruption, feel moody or irritable, and some will be involved in a traffic accident or work mishap.
Hopefully today we’ll lift some of that negative anticipation by sharing some of the benefits of living on standard time – and maybe even inspire you to advocate for it.
Now that your curiosity may be piqued, it is important to differentiate between talking about the impact of changing time – that is, moving from standard time to Daylight Savings time (DST) and vice versa – to the impact of the time placement itself. Clearly, changing time causes a host of negative outcomes both individually and societally. For example, the aforementioned sleep disruption, mood lability, and traffic accidents. Interestingly, while these impacts occur regardless of whether we’re springing forward into DST or falling back to standard time, the transition to DST is associated with more acute health effects (Rishi et al, 2020). These include an increase in heart attacks, stroke, emergency room visits and hospital admissions, and increased fatalities among children traveling to school in the morning darkness (Rishi et al, 2020). On the flip side, the transition back to standard time is associated with a reduction in cardiovascular events.
This actually makes sense if we think about human circadian rhythms. The biggest cue, or zeitgeber, for our bodies is light. Notwithstanding some folks who are extreme larks or owls, which is fairly rare, the majority of people are wired to wake up in the morning and experience increasing alertness throughout the day as light exposure continues with a slight dip or “siesta period” in the mid-afternoon. Once the sun sets and the major source of light exposure diminishes, melatonin is released which drives down the alerting signal and allows for sleep to occur. Thus, greater exposure to light in the morning and exposure to darkness in the evening promotes healthier, more robust circadian rhythms.
Unfortunately, because DST results in the opposite – that is, less light in the morning and more light in the evening- it essentially induces an ongoing phase delay in the human body. This delay has a host of negative consequences, from what has been termed “a variety of cellular derangements” at the physiological level including altered gene expression in core clock genes, impaired glucose control and hunger hormone regulation, and higher heart rate and blood pressure, to more systemic and behavioral impacts such as risk of diabetes, stroke, cancer, obesity, depression, and reduced sleep times, (Rishi et al, 2020; (Krishnan & Johnson, 2023). In particular, the ongoing phase delay in DST with delayed sunrises can not only reduce sleep time but also exacerbates any pre-existing sleep issues and makes it more difficult to adapt to socially required rise times (Krishnan & Johnson, 2023). In case you were wondering, it does not appear that the body adjusts to DST even after several months (Rishi et al, 2020), meaning as long as your body is operating under DST conditions you are exposed to these impacts.
Some benefits of DST for businesses have been found in sociological studies, in that DST boosts consumer spending, in particular use of credit cards, for higher gasoline, utility and health costs (Krishnan & Johnson, 2023). The trade-off is that that economic benefit does not appear to carry over to the workforce, as circadian disruption similar to that of DST has been found to reduce communication, productivity and workplace safety, and may be associated with lower average salaries (Krishnan & Johnson, 2023). Among students, DST results in reduced standardized test scores, with a disproportionate impact on disadvantaged students (Krishnan & Johnson, 2023).
Thus, while some may say they appreciate having sunlight exposure in the evening after work hours, they may be unaware of the numerous individual and public health harms to DST. Of note, an attempt at year-round DST in the 1970s was ended due to public outcry, many citing the increased car accident-related deaths that occurred among school children.
Sleep research advocates have expressed significant concerns about bills such as the proposed Sunshine Protection Act, which would federally mandate permanent DST against the recommendation of multiple medical and research societies. Now that you understand the rationale for that position, you may want to dig deeper into the research or advocate in your circles for the benefits of standard time. Sleep researchers have developed the www.savestandardtime.com website with resources.
It is the position of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine that the US eliminate seasonal time changes and adopt year-round standard time in order to promote public health and safety (Rishi et al, 2020). Moreover, it has further clarified that position to be that as detrimental as seasonal time changes are, keeping a seasonal DST would at least be better than a permanent DST (Krishnan & Johnson, 2023). Given this, you may feel inspired to learn more, share this information in your clinical practice, or advocate for standard time. At the very least, this can help reframe the upcoming time change as a positive for our bodies – and, when we get to next spring and the next start of DST to remember that it’s only temporary, at least for now!
The opinions in CDP Staff Perspective blogs are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Science or the Department of Defense.
Diana Dolan, Ph.D., CBSM, DBSM, is a clinical psychologist serving as an Assistant Director of Training & Education with the Center for Deployment Psychology at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland..
References:
Krishnan, V., & Johnson, K.G. (2023) Debunking myths about daylight saving time: ten things everyone
should know about the benefits of permanent standard time. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine
19(9):1573–1576.
Rishi, M.A., Ahmed, O., Barrantes Perez, J.H., et al. (2020) Daylight saving time: an American Academy
of Sleep Medicine position statement. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine 16(10):1781–1784.