Does Daylight Saving Time Need To Go? Experts and Lawmakers Seem to Think So

Daylight saving time, or DST, has been a constant companion for most of the people living in the United States. Every year in the spring and in the fall, Americans adjust their clocks to either spring forward an hour or fall backwards — losing or gaining an hour of sleep respectively.

While daylight saving time has been a major part of our lives since it was created back in 1918, lawmakers and sleep experts alike are thinking about what it could mean for Americans if we undid DST. 

Daylight saving time was originally created back in 1918 to conserve energy during World War I. While the measures were initially dropped after the war ended, several states continued practicing the time saving measures. The practice was nationally reinstated a few more times before becoming official law with the Uniform Time Act in 1966. 

However, these time-saving measures have been mired in controversy, with people calling into question the impact of DST on our sleep. It seems that the practice does have an impact on our sleep and health in both the long term and the short term. These studies show that throwing off one’s sleep schedule can lead to some of the nastier symptoms of sleep deprivation, like obesity or cardiovascular disease.

Read on if you’re curious to find out about why people are calling for daylight saving time to come to an end, as well as the possible alternatives. 

Are There Any Laws About Ending Daylight Saving Time? 

NPR reports that back in March 2022, the United States Senate unanimously passed the Sunshine Protection Act, which would see the entire country shift to year-round daylight saving time. However, despite the bill’s popularity in the Senate, it failed in the House of Representatives. A similar bill was proposed in 2025, but never made it past introduction. When the bill was first debated in a subcommittee, experts said permanent daylight saving time would “save lives, reduce crime, conserve energy, and improve health.” 

Even though the process of changing DST was stopped at the federal level, some states and territories have sought to take the matter into their own hands. Hawaii, Arizona, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands don’t currently participate in daylight saving time.

According to NPR, the House rejected the initial bill because of other national priorities, but also because of how the bill is structured. Even though most people agree that it’s time we stopped leaping forward and jumping backwards, debates persist about what should replace DST.

What Could Replace Daylight Saving Time? 

There are two options that we could adopt to replace DST. First, we could switch to permanent daylight saving time. In this shift, we would switch our clocks an hour forward in the spring as we ordinarily do, but instead of moving them back in the fall, we would continue with the clocks as they are. 

The other option would be to adopt standard time. This is essentially the opposite. We would set our clocks back an hour in the fall and then never shift them forwards in the spring. 

While these options might seem pretty similar, sleep doctors and experts actually prefer a permanent switch to standard time over DST. Standard time would allow people to get more light in the mornings, which aligns with our body’s circadian rhythm, which benefits overall health.

Long story short, it looks like daylight saving time is staying just the way it is for the foreseeable future.