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Daylight Saving Time (DST) is antiquated and widely unpopular.

Seasonal time changes disrupt sleep more for adolescents and young adults than other age groups.

Cultural supports are needed in addition to behavioral changes to improve sleep for everyone.

Twice a year, we in the West like to play a little gag on ourselves with something called Daylight Saving Time (DST), which is a seasonal adjustment to Standard Time: We fall back an hour in the fall, and we spring forward an hour in the spring. (Get it?)

Standard Time was invented in the 1840s to help trains maintain schedules in connection with the sun as they passed across vast regions. As seasons change, so too does the amount of daylight in 24 hours. In 1918, policymakers decided to account for that with a time change to help save coal for World War I.

An outdated policy that disrupts sleep

DST is widely unpopular—60 percent of the population opposes it. Senators passed a bill to jettison DST in 2022, but the House has slept on it. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has issued recommendations to end DST, citing that it coincides with rises in workplace accidents, car accidents, heart attacks, psychological stress, and sleep disorders. This is especially true when we spring forward, losing an hour.

There is evidence that car accidents, which typically happen in the evening when drivers are fatigued, occur less in the summer months because there’s more sunlight, thanks to DST. But that’s only in countries with well-designed roads, which America lacks, and that doesn’t change........

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