It’s time, as they say on Twitter, to #locktheclock.

We need to put an end to the century

of back-and-forth. After we spring forward this weekend, we should make daylight
saving time permanent.
On Sunday, people in most areas of the country will set their clocks ahead one hour,
making it so that darkness falls later in the day. But making daylight saving time
permanent would, almost certainly, give the people what they want — whether they say
so or not.
To an extent, we might thank covid-19 for helping to clarify preferences for late-
afternoon sunshine. When pandemic lockdowns reset schedules far and wide, a clear
favorite emerged. During homebound periods in 2020, when the boundaries between
workdays and weekends blurred, students and workers alike slept later in the morning
and stayed up longer at night — a schedule that resembles the later-day start of daylight
saving time.
One study, commissioned by mattress manufacturer Leesa Sleep, found that almost half
of remote workers didn’t get out of bed till 10 minutes before they needed to report to
their at-home workstation. Meanwhile, electricity use noticeably fell between 2 p.m. and
5 p.m., leaving experts to theorize that people headed outdoors to bask in the daylight.

These data points not only suggest why so many workers aren’t interested in resuming
their daily commute, but also help explain why political momentum is with the group
that wants to spring forward this March — and not fall back months later.
More than 40 states are considering changes to end the time-shifting, The Post reported
last month. In recent years, 19 states have passed legislation to remain on permanent
daylight saving time. In California, where the issue went to a proposition in 2018, a
demand for permanent daylight saving time passed with almost 60 percent of the vote.
Here’s the rub: Federal law says that a state can decide to remain year-round on
standard time — that is, the way clocks are set from early November to mid-March.
(Arizona and Hawaii have opted to do this.) But congressional approval is needed to
change over to permanent daylight saving time.
Polls repeatedly find that large majorities of Americans would like to end the biannual
switcheroo, though they are divided on where, precisely, to set the clock. Surveys
conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research in late
2019 and again in late 2021 found that around 40 percent of us want year-round
standard time, while just under a third prefer daylight saving time, or additional
sunlight late in the day.
But Economist-YouGov polling last fall returned findings more in line with how people
behaved in lockdown, when they had more freedom over their schedules — which
suggests how they’d like to live year-round. A majority of respondents who wanted the
time change to cease once and for all also wanted daylight saving time to be permanent.
And why wouldn’t we? When we skip ahead to begin daylight saving time, we won’t just
be “losing” an hour. Many of us will be tired and out of sorts for days as our bodies
adjust. Increases in car crashes and heart attacks have been documented after the clock
hop. So have declines in workplace productivity and increases in on-the-job injuries.
Even the stock market is likely to take a temporary hit.
If we’re going to make a change, sleep experts say that standard time should be, well, the
standard. It’s not just that morning light makes us more alert, according to those who
study slumber. It also synchronizes our 24-hour biological clocks.
“Standard time is the healthy choice,” Beth Ann Malow, a sleep medicine specialist at
Vanderbilt University Medical Center, testified this week at a congressional hearing on
the topic.
But people like what they like. And permanent daylight saving time has its benefits.
Supporters cite studies showing that afternoon sunlight increases retail sales and that it
encourages more exercise. Nor is winding back clocks fully positive — the lack of late-
day sun in the fall seems to increase incidences of seasonal affective disorder.
Washington needs to acknowledge the reality of how Americans live — and sleep. It’s
time to let the (late-afternoon) sunshine in. Let’s make this Sunday’s time switch our
last.