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Daylight Saving Time Ends This Sunday. It Could Be The Last Autumnal Time Change Ever
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Source image: Laura Chouette/Unsplash
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We come to daylight saving time in this, the year of our Lord 2022, at a fraught moment. Why? Because even as we speak, the United States House of Representatives is at a crossroads in determining whether this Sunday will be the last time we wind our clocks backwards for absolutely no reason at all.
ICYMI, the U.S. Senate voted in March to make daylight saving time permanent. The bill, cheerfully dubbed the Sunshine Protection Act, would put an end to the twice-yearly changing of the clocks.
But now, as DST approaches its annual end, the bill is stalled in Congress. According to our partner newsroom NPR, members of the House are hearing from scientists who agree about putting an end to switching the clocks — but believe we should stick with standard time, not DST.
(If you're confused, daylight saving time actually ends this weekend. It began on March 13.)
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Why Health Concerns Are Behind A Possible Change
Dr. Karin Johnson, a neurologist and director of the Sleep Medicine program at Baystate Health in Springfield, Mass., told NPR that the human body works better when it wakes with the sun and sleeps with the dark. She said:
"I'd like to see permanent standard time because it is best aligned with our bodies' rhythm. And that just makes life a little easier. When we're aligned with our rhythms, we can sleep easier. We can think easier. We can wake up easier. And all those things lead to better health."
The Origin Of Daily Saving
DST has its roots in saving energy and making money; fewer lights would theoretically be turned on if it stays sunnier later, and the daylight would — in some people's minds — be more of an enticement for folks to stop at shops on their way home from work.
Current arguments for and against it range from giving children more time to play outdoors, to keeping those same children safe (or endangering them, depending on which side you're on) when they walk home from school, to sparing the deers.
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Either way, we won't know for sure whether we'll continue to turn our clocks back — and forth, and back and forth — for at least a few more months, so don't forget to change yours this weekend. DST officially ends at 2 a.m. on Sunday.
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