As debate continues about ending the twice-a-year time changes and keeping one consistent time, one University of Illinois professor has a solution.
“I’m amazed that nobody has proposed this, in fact, as legislation,” said Sheldon Jacobson, PhD, a computer science professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaing.
Jacobson write this op-ed for The Hill, urging lawmakers to split the difference when it comes to time changes.
“Why not compromise in the middle, which is what we proposed here, which is a 30 minute change?” Jacobson said.
While the U.S. Senate has already put forward a bill to make Daylight Saving Time permanent, sleep medicine doctors are against it.
“I’m team standard time. I think that, by and large, us in the sleep community, are team standard time, that's really kind of naturally aligned a little bit better with our natural circadian rhythm or biological rhythm,” said Dr. Kenneth Lee, medical director at the UChicago Medicine Sleep Center.
There are plenty of people who prefer daylight saving time, with many people citing more sunshine later in the day as the main reason.
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“Daylight saving time is certainly winning the PR battle. It sounds a lot better than standard time, but there's the same amount of daylight. It's just a matter of when it is,” said Dr. David Kuhlmann, a sleep medicine doctor and a spokesperson for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
The Academy is against a permanent sleep to Daylight Saving Time for health reasons, cited here.
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That’s why Professor Jacobson is proposing a compromise with a 30-minute shift instead of an hour.
“You're not getting the full negative effect of the circadian rhythms, which the which physicians are concerned about, at the same time, the light balance that people prefer to have either early or late in the day is smoothed out,” Jacobson said.
One potential issue with a 30-minute shift is it would put us out of sync with our other North American neigbors.
“I'm convinced that if we do that Canada and Mexico will follow suit, especially Canada, which has such a long border, over 2000 miles of border, with the United States,” said Jacobson. “And what we will see is a trend beginning that could really affect and help everybody because with no change. We don't have to worry about it twice a year.”
Many sleep medicine doctors are in favor of ending the twice a year time changes.
“The shifting in and of itself is really a problem. There’s health-related outcomes that are serious with this, you know, a rise of things such as car accidents the day or two afterwards that this happens,” Lee said.
However, they feel strongly that sticking with standard time is the way to go.
“We do need to think about compromise, but ultimately, we want to do what's best for health,” said Kuhlmann.
