As the country prepares to rewind its clocks to end daylight saving time which takes place Sunday at 2 a.m. on Sunday a Baystate Medical Center professional is advocating for a permanent end to switching the clocks and to daylight saving time in general.
Baystate Medical Center Sleep Medicine Doctor Karin Johnson said her research completed with colleagues on sleep cycles shows that permanent standard time can improve brain functionality, mood, focus, and help reduce car crashes and the risk of developing long-term health conditions.
Johnson added that she is opposed to a recent federal effort to make daylight saving time permanent, which passed the U.S. Senate in March but did not get a vote in the U.S. House.Read More: Push to make daylight saving time permanent a bad idea, says sleep expert
Timezones were designed to have the sun as close to being overhead at noon as possible, Dr. Johnson said. Daylight savings time shifts the clock an hour so we get later sunrises and sunsets. But unfortunately, our bodies dont go by the clock time, they go by the sun time.
A Baystate Medical Center spokesperson clarified in a statement that the medical center does not promote Johnsons views.
Dr Johnsons comments were not a reflection of Baystate Health but her own personal position on the subject as a physician and involvement with the organization promoting it, the statement read.
Johnson is on the board of directors of the nonprofit organization Save Standard Time, which advocates for extending what its website terms longitudinally correct standard time.
The difference between standard time and daylight saving time is one hour. When it is 8 a.m. under standard time, it is 9 a.m. under daylight saving time.
But where daylight saving time focuses on extending daylight at the end day, standard time provides more daylight at the beginning of the day, when people need sunshine the most, according to Dr. Johnson.
Daylight saving time will end this year on Sunday, Nov. 6, at 2 a.m. Most in the U.S. will turn their clocks back an hour and gain an extra hour of sleep or an additional hour of restless early-morning activities.
Many people hope that 2023 marks the brings the end of changing clocks twice a year the U.S. Senate passed a bill in March to make daylight saving time permanent year-round.
Lawmakers argue many Americans would benefit from more light at the end of the day.
Pretty much everybody in Rhode Island experiences the same thing on that unhappy day in early November when suddenly an hour of your day, an hour of your daylight disappears and dusk comes an hour earlier, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a cosponsor of the Sunshine Protection Act, said in a Senate floor speech.
He argued the process of changing clocks does darken our lives in a very literal sense.
No more switching clocks, more daylight hours to spend outside after school and after work, and more smiles that is what we get with permanent daylight saving time, Sen. Ed Markey said in a statement.
The U.S. House so far has not taken up the bill, however.
The Sunshine Protection Act would bring us darker mornings, which are critical to aligning our clock, Johnson said.
Permanent daylight savings time causes a misalignment of our bodys internal clocks, Johnson stated. The time shift makes it more difficult for our bodies to fall asleep at normal times and harder to wake up for our everyday morning activities.
Johnson said poor sleep quality increases a persons risk of developing long term health-effects like obesity and cancer. Medically compromised individuals also have a greater risk of having a heart attack or a stroke if their sleep is disrupted, she added.
Time changes disrupt systematic body functions, causing dysfunctions in our internal body clocks, according to Dr. Johnson.
Those dysfunctions put a lot of strain on our hearts and we get things like poor control of sugar, higher diabetes rates and heart disease, Johnson said.
Johnson believes these health risks will increase if the country adopts the Sunshine Protection Act, and the group most impacted by daylight savings teenagers will suffer greatly, she said.
Its an important time for growth, brain function and learning. We see worse academic attainments, lower graduation rates, more delinquent behavior and more car accidents in teenagers when their sleep isnt aligned, the doctor stated.
Young people not receiving adequate levels of quality sleep aligned with their bodys internal clock are most likely to make poor decisions that can lead to texting and driving, substance abuse and tardiness at school, according to Johnson.
In a neurological sleep study co-authored by Johnson and Tennessee-based Neurologist, Beth Malow, the medical professionals wrote that circadian rhythms physical, mental and behavioral changes that align with 24-hour day cycles are disrupted for the entirety of the daylight savings cycle from spring to fall.
Sleep disturbances in the setting of daylight saving time are more likely to impact adolescents, evening types (i.e., night owls), and those with early start times, which disproportionately affect poor and minority communities, Johnson and Malow wrote in the study.
The implementation of permanent standard time could also have a positive impact on the overall economy and workforce.
If the workforce as a whole is sleeping better and less likely to get workplace injuries and health problems, Johnson said. She believes the economy can see a boost in the billions of dollars with the potential increase of productivity the switch to permanent standard time can cause.
The sleep medicine professional also argued that permanent standard time can reduce household energy usage and reduce energy bills a regional dilemma Vice President Kamala Harris addressed during a presentation in Boston on Wednesday.Read More: Kamala Harris touts programs to lower home energy bills at Boston event
In a memo advocating for permanent standard time, the Massachusetts Medical Society cosigned Johnsons claims, stating that research has shown that the adoption of standard time is expected to lower the risk of cancer, obesity, heart disease, stroke, metabolic disorders, depression and other mood disorders, substance abuse disorders, and suicide when compared to both the status quo and permanent daylight saving time.
Dr. Johnson has plans of submitting a bill to the Massachusetts state Legislature in January advocating for a state-wide implementation of permanent standard time.