Dear editor:

A bill before Congress called the “Sunshine Protection Act” proposes putting the country on year-round daylight saving time. It has already passed the House. The Senate is likely to act soon as the country is scheduled to return to Standard Time on Nov. 1. The choice of clock times bears consideration. During the 1974 oil crisis, Congress legislated year-round DST. It was done to save energy and seemed like a good idea at the time. But as the days shortened people had to rise long before dawn. Bleary-eyed students went to school and commuters drove in the dark. Accidents skyrocketed. It quickly became unpopular and was repealed.

According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, morning darkness disrupts our circadian rhythms, increases depression, heart attacks, strokes and Seasonal Affective Disorder. At 6 a.m. your body thinks it’s 5 a.m., so it’s harder to get going. A remedy is to sit in front of a therapy light for a half hour each morning. This is effective and it supports year round standard time when bed times and risings are more in tune with the seasons and the sun is at its highest at noon. Last March we ‘sprang forward’ to DST and lost an hour. By changing back to standard time we would get that hour back and never change our clocks again. Standard time is a wiser choice and we would soon forget that it was ever an issue.

Sincerely,

Geoff Bauman

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