Senate Should Back Permanent Standard Time: Karin Johnson, MD

Permanent standard time is the only option that ends biannual clock changes while keeping the body aligned with the sun, according to Karin Johnson, MD, FAASM, FAAN, a professor of neurology, sleep medicine specialist, spokesperson for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, and cochair of the Coalition for Permanent Standard Time.

Johnson said both permanent options would end the switches, which she linked to more heart attacks, strokes, worse sleep, poorer academic performance, and more safety issues, particularly after the spring change. Permanent daylight saving time, however, would place the country in chronic circadian misalignment, with the sun overhead well after noon.

“Our bodies stay more aligned with the sun than the time on our clocks,” Johnson said, noting that circadian rhythms govern sleep timing, digestion, alertness, and judgment. Misalignment is associated with metabolic disorders such as diabetes and obesity, as well as heart disease, stroke, depression, and suicide. It also affects work and school attendance.

The House passed the Sunshine Protection Act (HR 139), which would establish permanent daylight saving time, and it now sits in the Senate. Johnson said more than 100 medical and scientific organizations support permanent standard time. She urged physicians and medical societies to ask lawmakers to stop the Sunshine Protection Act and instead back the Sunshine for Our Kids Act (HR 9638), which would allow permanent standard time.

Adolescents are especially vulnerable to losing morning light, Johnson said. From roughly ages 10 to 25 years, circadian rhythms are naturally delayed, and a strong wake maintenance zone before bedtime makes early sleep difficult. Too little morning light and too much evening light, which daylight saving time creates, push rhythms later, while school schedules stay fixed.

Teens therefore stay up later and wake earlier, leaving insufficient time to sleep. Johnson noted that national surveys show about three-quarters of teens are sleep-deprived.