Two weeks ago, we all got an extra hour of sleep when we transitioned an hour back in time, ending daylight saving time. But at what cost? First of all, this means we lose an hour of sleep next spring when we transition back onto daylight saving time. But studies suggest the cost of daylight saving time may be far more than just that lost hour of sleep in spring.
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine advocates ending daylight saving time, citing factors such as higher risks of strokes, hospital admissions, and medical errors that occur after time changes. The academy prefers year-round standard time as opposed to year-round daylight saving time because standard time better matches humans’ internal clocks, which they justify with a study showing that risk of cardiovascular events increases during daylight saving time.
A study by Sleep Medicine Reviews showed that losing an hour of nighttime in spring results in more than one hour of lost sleep: sleep loss continues to affect many for at least a week after the time jump. And even when we gained that precious hour of sleep two weeks ago — did we really? Turns out, this study also said there is little evidence people gain any extra sleep the night we turn our clocks back. Plus, across the following week, people are likely to sleep less. This means the average person loses sleep after both annual clock changes.
Despite plentiful amounts of research, there remains no consensus for how daylight saving time impacts energy use. A paper by the National Bureau of Economic Research studied changes in energy consumption in parts of Indiana after these areas began observing daylight saving time in 2006. The bureau concluded that electricity demand increased by one percent, with Indiana electricity bills being a total of $9 million higher per year and social costs of pollution being $1.7 to $5.5 million higher. Contrastingly, a Department of Energy report to Congress said that Congress’s 2005 decision to extend daylight saving time starting in 2007 resulted in a one-half-percent decrease in energy usage per each day that daylight saving time was extended, which means a 0.03 percent decrease in annual energy usage. The report found no statistically significant changes to traffic volume or gasoline consumption.
Also, an economic analysis from the University of Washington Law Digital Commons advocated making daylight saving time permanent, saying that this matches better with people’s real waking hours, and that there would be a small reduction in energy usage. The analysis said this small reduction could turn out to be significant because a small change in electricity demand can become the difference between rolling blackouts and abundant power for all, as has been seen in California. This analysis also acknowledged that road accidents in the early morning would increase, but countered that by saying the roads would become safer in the evenings with more light — the report added that this latter point is more significant because there are far more drivers on the road during the evening, and these individuals are more accident prone.
The point is, nobody seems to agree on daylight saving time’s impacts on sleep, energy consumption, and safety. But no matter how much studies can disagree on the long-term impacts of having daylight saving time, removing it, or making it permanent, they tend to agree that the time changes themselves create chaos. The average American likely lost sleep two weeks ago, despite the extra supposed hour of sleep we all were given. And in the time after the clock change, the average American was also more likely to die in a medical emergency or automobile accident. That much we can agree on.
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