A new bill would make daylight saving time permanent. Why sleep experts find it ‘very concerning'
The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation July 14 to make daylight saving time permanent, a move that would eliminate the changing of the clocks twice a year — as well as the biannual debate over its pros and cons.
Known as the Sunshine Protection Act, the bill, if it becomes law, would mean daylight saving time, which goes from the second Sunday in March until the first Sunday of November, would last all year. However, states could remove themselves from this setup before it goes into effect.
“Permanent Daylight Saving Time will improve public safety, promote healthier and more active lifestyles and give families more daylight to enjoy after work and school,” the bill’s sponsor, Florida Rep. Vern Buchanan, wrote in a statement after it passed.
“I’m grateful to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for supporting this bipartisan effort, and I urge the Senate to send this long-overdue reform to the president’s desk.”
President Donald Trump has also advocated for the legislation. “It’s time that people can stop worrying about the ‘Clock,’ not to mention all of the work and money that is spent on this ridiculous, twice yearly production,” he wrote on Truth Social in May.
A March 2025 Gallup poll found that 19% of U.S. adults like having two sets of times each year, while 24% supported daylight saving time year round and another 48% support standard time.
Daylight saving time was adopted across the country in 1966, prompting clocks to fall back an hour in November and ahead one hour in March. Arizona, Hawaii and multiple U.S. territories, including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, don’t observe it.
In the decades since, the negative health effects of the clock change, especially when an hour is lost in the spring, have been well documented, sleep scientist Wendy Troxel, Ph.D., tells TODAY.com.
But would permanent daylight saving time or permanent standard time (observed from November to March) be better for health?
Is daylight saving time permanent now?
While the measure passed in the House, it still needs to get through the Senate, so its future is murky.
Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton has been a vocal opponent of permanent daylight saving time because it “would push winter sunrises to an absurdly late hour, depriving Americans of morning sunshine that’s essential for our safety and wellbeing,” he said on the Senate floor in October 2025 while the Senate debated the Sunshine Protection Act.
An aide for Cotton said July 14 that the senator has the “same concerns” about the act, and that senators from both parties are against it, NBC News reported. The aide said Cotton will ask Senate Majority Leader John Thune not to bring up the legislation for a vote.
Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett said his constituents want permanent daylight saving time, but he didn’t think the legislation would make it past the Senate, per NBC News reporting.
“I’m kind of digging the fact that we’re going to fix it, I hope,” Burchett said. “See if the Senate takes it up. They probably won’t, but we’ll see.”
Health impacts of permanent daylight saving time
Research has indicated that ditching the biannual clock change would improve public health, regardless of whether daylight saving or standard time is made permanent. Losing an hour in the spring in particular has been linked to increased risk for car accidents and heart attacks, as well as milder effects like headaches.
However, Troxel says the prospect of year-round daylight saving time is “very concerning for sleep scientists” because it “misaligns our internal clocks with clock time. … If we were to stick with one time, it should be permanent standard time.”
With permanent daylight saving time, we would have less morning light, and seeing light in the morning has a lot of health benefits for “our mood, our energy levels, our alertness (and) our productivity,” Troxel explains. With permanent daylight saving time, “in the winter time, many of us (would) not see the sunlight until around 9 a.m.”
Instead, there would be more sunlight later in the day, which can negatively impact sleep, Troxel adds. In the U.S., about one in three adults already don’t get enough sleep, which can increase risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, obesity, dementia, infectious diseases and more, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.
A 2025 study from Stanford University looked at the health impacts of permanent daylight saving time versus standard time found that the latter had a greater impact on reducing rates of obesity and stroke.
In the 1970s, former President Richard Nixon briefly instituted permanent daylight saving time, but it didn’t go well, largely due to pitch-dark mornings, NBC News reported.
One 2017 study found that later daylight hours might make people more likely to walk or cycle, but another 2014 study found that permanent daylight saving time does not have any impact on physical activity trends.
Asked about sleep experts’ concerns that permanent daylight saving time could be harmful to public health, Buchanan told TODAY.com in a statement, in part: “Americans across the country have shown that they are tired of the biannual clock change, and the evidence is clear that permanent daylight saving time can improve public health, reduce traffic accidents, lower crime and encourage more outdoor activity.”
“I’ve advocated for this change for years because it’s clear that year-round daylight saving time is a popular, commonsense reform that will improve the health of millions of Americans.”
Why do sleep experts prefer permanent standard time?
Troxel says standard time better aligns with the body’s internal clock, aka circadian rhythm, which dictates sleep-wake cycles and is responsive to light. Benefits of a healthy circadian rhythm include better sleep, memory, and metabolic and hormone function, research shows.
Lara Weed, Ph.D., author of the 2025 study, told TODAY in October that she agrees that permanent standard time is better for public health.
“Get outside, get some light exposure to regulate your circadian rhythm and make sure you’re keeping it dark at night so that you know your sleep isn’t disturbed,” she said.
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
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