Why do sleep doctors want permanent standard time?

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine says permanent standard time aligns best with human circadian biology. The AMA, the National Sleep Foundation, and the Sleep Research Society take the same position.

Did Congress make daylight saving time permanent?

Not yet. The House passed the Sunshine Protection Act 308-117 on July 14, 2026, which would make daylight saving time permanent, but the bill has stalled in the Senate. The Senate passed an earlier version in 2022 that died in the House.

Which states don't change their clocks?

Hawaii and most of Arizona stay on standard time all year. The Navajo Nation in Arizona observes daylight saving time. Federal law lets states opt out of daylight saving time only by staying on standard time year-round.

The case for ending the Daylight Savings clock change

The clocks fall back on Sunday, November 1, and almost nobody will be sorry to see the switch go if it ever does. Only 12% of Americans favor the current system of changing the clocks twice a year, an AP-NORC poll found in October 2025. In a Gallup poll from January 2025, 54% said they were ready to do away with daylight saving time.

The strongest case against the switch is about health, and most of the damage comes in the spring, when we lose an hour. Fatal car crash risk rose 6% around the spring change, with the biggest jump in the morning, in a 2020 study of U.S. crashes from 1996 to 2017. The same study found no effect from the fall change.

The spring shift shows up in hospitals, too. In Michigan, heart attacks jumped 24% on the Monday after the spring change, a 2014 study of 2010 to 2013 data found, though the total for the week didn't change, which suggests the clock shift moved heart attacks earlier rather than causing new ones. In Finland, hospital admissions for strokes rose 8% in the first two days after the change. Medical errors blamed on human mistakes rose 18.7% after the spring change, a 2020 study found. Workers sleep about 40 minutes less on the Monday after the spring change, a 2009 study found.

The original reason for daylight saving time, saving energy, doesn't hold up well. When Congress extended daylight saving time in 2007, the Department of Energy found it cut electricity use by about 0.5% on each extra day, or 0.03% over the whole year. A study of Indiana, which adopted daylight saving time statewide in 2006, found it actually increased home electricity use by about 1%.

Which time to keep

Ending the switch means picking one time for good, and that's where the fight is. Sleep doctors are clear about their choice. "It is the position of the AASM that the United States should eliminate seasonal time changes in favor of permanent standard time, which aligns best with human circadian biology," the American Academy of Sleep Medicine says. The National Sleep Foundation, the Sleep Research Society, and the American Medical Association agree.

"Committing to standard time has health benefits and allows us to end the biannual tug of war between our biological and alarm clocks," Dr. Alexander Ding said when the AMA took that position in 2022.

Congress is moving the other way. The Sunshine Protection Act would make daylight saving time permanent. The Senate passed a version by unanimous consent on March 15, 2022, but the House never voted on it. This year the order flipped: the House passed the bill 308-117 on July 14, 2026, and it has stalled in the Senate, according to Congress.gov. Sen. Rick Scott of Florida has said he's working to get a vote after the November election. President Trump has called the clock change "inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation" and has urged Congress to "push hard for more Daylight at the end of a day."

The states are lined up behind that idea, too. Nineteen have passed laws to adopt year-round daylight saving time if Congress allows it, Texas most recently in 2025, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Under federal law, states can opt out of daylight saving time only by staying on standard time all year, which is what Hawaii and most of Arizona, including Phoenix, already do.

The problem with permanent daylight saving time is winter mornings. In Detroit, the sun rises at 8:01 a.m. on December 31 this year. Under permanent daylight saving time, that would be about 9:01 a.m. In Atlanta, a sunrise of 7:42 a.m. in early January would become about 8:42. "Arkansans don't want their kids going to school in the pitch dark," Sen. Tom Cotton said.

The country has tried this. Year-round daylight saving time started on January 6, 1974, during the energy crisis, and Congress voted that October to bring back standard time. A federal review at the time found statistically significant evidence of more deaths among school-age children in the mornings, according to the Congressional Research Service.

The other side has real points. Evening light seems to cut crime: robberies rose 7% when daylight saving time ended in the fall, and 27% in the hours around sunset, in a study by economists Jennifer Doleac and Nicholas Sanders. Card spending per person fell 3.5% when daylight saving time ended, the JPMorgan Chase Institute found in 2016. And people like their evening light. In the AP-NORC poll, 56% preferred daylight saving time all year and 42% preferred standard time. Gallup, which also offered keeping the switch, found the reverse: 48% for permanent standard time and 24% for permanent daylight saving time.

Rep. Vern Buchanan of Florida says permanent daylight saving time "will improve public safety, promote healthier and more active lifestyles." The sleep researchers say the morning light matters more. On one thing, both sides and most of the public agree: the twice-a-year switch should go. Until Congress acts, it stays. After November 1, the clocks spring forward again on March 14, 2027.