People love to hate changing clocks twice a year, but can't agree how to fix it
#Daylight Saving Time #Clock Change #Sleep Disruption #Legislative Action #Circadian Rhythms #Public Opinion #Time Policy
📌 Key Takeaways
- Americans will change clocks to daylight saving time on March 10, 2026, despite widespread opposition to the practice
- Most Americans dislike the twice-yearly time changes but disagree on whether permanent daylight saving or standard time would be preferable
- Legislative efforts to end the clock changes have stalled, with 19 states favoring permanent daylight saving time and others leaning toward standard time
- Health experts recommend permanent standard time for better alignment with human circadian rhythms and improved safety
📖 Full Retelling
Americans will adjust their clocks forward one hour at 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 10, 2026, for the start of daylight saving time, a practice that disrupts sleep patterns and sparks annual debate despite widespread public opposition. The twice-yearly time change affects most of the U.S., creating a 23-hour day that throws off biological rhythms and inspires millions of complaints, yet political efforts to end the practice remain stalled by deep divisions over which permanent system would be preferable. The debate has intensified as surveys consistently show that while most Americans dislike the current system of changing clocks twice annually, they cannot agree on an alternative, with health experts warning about increased risks of vehicle crashes and health problems in the days following the spring time change. Legislative efforts to resolve the issue have produced mixed results, with 19 states adopting laws calling for permanent daylight saving time since 2018, while half a dozen states have moved toward permanent standard time in one legislative chamber, though these measures typically include provisions that changes would only take effect if neighboring states follow suit.
🏷️ Themes
Time Policy, Public Health, Political Division
📚 Related People & Topics
Daylight saving time
Seasonal change of clock settings
Daylight saving time (DST), also referred to as daylight savings time, daylight time (United States and Canada), or summer time (United Kingdom, European Union, and others), is the practice of advancing clocks to make better use of the longer daylight available during summer so that darkness falls a...
Circadian rhythm
Natural internal process that regulates the sleep-wake cycle
A circadian rhythm (), or circadian cycle, is a natural oscillation that repeats roughly every 24 hours. Circadian rhythms can refer to any process that originates within an organism (i.e., endogenous) and responds to the environment (is entrained by the environment). Circadian rhythms are regulated...
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Original Source
People love to hate changing clocks twice a year, but can't agree how to fix it This is the weekend when clocks move ahead, causing angst, lost sleep and health issues for many By GEOFF MULVIHILL Associated Press March 6, 2026, 12:10 AM Clocks will skip ahead an hour at 2 a.m. Sunday for daylight saving time in most of the U.S., creating a 23-hour day that throws off sleep schedules, plunges early-morning dog walks into darkness and inspires millions of complaints. Even though polls show most people dislike the system that has most Americans changing clocks twice a year, the political moves necessary to change the system haven't succeeded because opinions on the issue and its potential impacts are sharply divided. Want to make daylight saving time permanent? That would mean the sun rises around 9 a.m. in Detroit for a while during the winter. Prefer staying on standard time year round? That would mean the sun would be up at 4:11 a.m. in Seattle in June. “There’s no law we can pass to move the sun to our will,” said Jay Pea, the president of Save Standard Time, an organization devoted to switching to standard time for good. Here's a look at the debate. Genie Lauren spends her winters in New York City keeping an eye on the sunrise and sunset “white-knuckling it” until the sun is up late enough for her to feel like doing anything outside her apartment after work — even going to the movies. “The majority of the year we’re in daylight savings time,” said the 41-year-old health care worker. “What are we doing this for?” The U.S. has tinkered with the clock intermittently since railroads standardized the time zones in 1883. So has a lot of the world. About 140 countries have had daylight saving time at some point; about half that many do now. About 1 in 10 U.S. adults favor the current system of changing the clocks, according to an AP-NORC poll conducted last year. About half oppose that system, and some 4 in 10 didn’t have an opinion. If they had to choose, most Americans...
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