I know that many of us are anxious to see winter end, so much so that we excitedly embrace the tradition of daylight-saving time. When I was a kid daylight-saving time did not begin until April and ended in October. Currently it begins in March and ends in November. It is still cold in March, so I don't think many people are going to be in a hurry to spend an extra hour outdoors, just yet. Why should we go through the ritual of changing the time on the clock by an hour? They should remain at standard time all year. I think that there are enough stressors for people to deal with, especially now—pandemic and wars— without having to deal with a self-imposed one. The days naturally get longer. The clocks have nothing to do with that. It was already getting lighter in the morning and now, an hour earlier, it is darker when you awaken, at least that is the case for me.
Dr. Abid Bhat, medical director for the University Health Sleep Center, formerly Truman Medical Centers says year-round standard time is best for the body instead of bouncing back and forth between standard time and daylight-saving time. Our bodies and health are affected by these changes. It turns out that losing an hour of sleep is not so inconsequential. It goes beyond our being cranky for a week or so until we can adjust.
Dr. Bhat says “Changing the clock changes up our body's production of hormones, including melatonin, the night-time hormone that affects sleep; cortisol, the stress hormone; and serotonin, the "feel-good" hormone that helps keep depression and anxiety at bay. "To make it simple, our body is aligned with the outside world through a biological clock. So, there's a synchrony," says Bhat. "And when you change that there's a misalignment."
Some people who contracted COVID and overcame it still may suffer from long COVID symptoms like experiencing changes to their sleep cycle with many being unable to sleep at all despite the assistance of medication. Changing the clocks exacerbates this problem.
“The American Heart Association has issued its yearly reminder that incidents of heart disease and stroke go up at daylight saving time — a biological "clock shock" thus far unexplained.”
Proponents say that we are just losing an hour of sleep, but gaining an hour of daylight. I thing we are just fooling ourselves. Loss of an hour of sleep is not inconsequential to our health and well being.