Why permanent Daylight Saving Time would harm Oklahomans
Until six years ago, I spent the prime of my life in the great state of Oklahoma: 13 years at Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford and another 13 at Rogers State University in Claremore. My Ph.D. is from the University of Oklahoma and my three adult children earned degrees or certificates in the city.
Senate Bill 1200, in support of permanent Daylight Saving Time (DST), would harm the health and safety of Oklahomans. My team’s research, published in the journal Time & Society in 2022, found that more people die in auto accidents when they live in misaligned time zones. Over 12 years of data, we found a 22 percent higher vehicle-fatality rate in these locations with excessively late sunrises and sunsets, such as in Western Oklahoma. That’s more than 1,000 excess deaths-per-year across the country. The pattern held across all four principal time zones.
This interdisciplinary research provides strong support for chronobiology theory, which links circadian sleep deficits with a host of maladies and premature death. The problem is called social jetlag. It isn't just about the total hours we sleep, but when those hours take place in relation to the sun's movement. People need to be aware of this basic physiological need. Road fatalities are just the latest hazard to be linked to artificial time. Circadian misalignment is associated with higher risks of stroke, heart disease, obesity, dementia and cancer.
Even worse than misaligned time zones, Daylight Saving Time creates an additional circadian deficit of a full-hour, for eight months of the year, right there in Oklahoma. Extending Daylight Saving Time to 12 months would be a mistake because natural time is superior to artificial time.
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Daylight Saving Time is unnecessary. We spring forward precisely when the days are growing longer already. This time change adds not even a single minute of light to the day. To those who would support SB 1200, I have three points:
The harmful effects of Daylight Saving Time are not temporary — not just during the spring transition — but for two-thirds of the year. It creates a chronic circadian misalignment. Studies in chronobiology and neurology expose Daylight Saving Time as a serious threat to the health and safety of human beings.
During Daylight Saving Time, Oklahoma clocks say "noon" when the sun is directly over Philadelphia. Think about that. The American Medical Association, American Academy of Sleep Medicine, and the American College of Chest Physicians (of which my daughter is a member — Union High School graduate) are all on record in support of natural, not artificial time zones.
Daylight Saving Time was drawn-up a half-century ago by those with no understanding of circadian science. We are the guinea pigs in this failed experiment. The promised energy savings are not supported by research. And the bonus of extra "leisure time" in the evening — a dividend for the wealthy — comes at the expense of bleary-eyed mornings.
To conclude, the preponderance of research drives the final nail in the coffin of the case for Daylight Saving Time. Yes, we should end clock change, but we need to do it the right way. The Great State of Oklahoma should adopt permanent standard time. Your citizens will be healthier and safer if you reject Daylight Saving Time.
Jeff Gentry is professor of communication at Eastern New Mexico University. He does not speak for his employer.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Permanent daylight saving time in Oklahoma harmful to our health
