The abolition of winter time and the introduction of daylight saving time alone was voted on by the US Senate, which is opposed by many scientists, according to the Washington Post.
"The time change is an outdated concept, a source of stress and confusion. It's just something without any meaning, there's no other way to say it," said Marco Rubio, the bill's author."
The Republican senator from Florida in his speech linked the time change to an increase in "heart attacks and car accidents," which is indeed true during the fall and spring time change periods.
On the other hand, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island pointed out that "wintertime literally darkens our lives."
But with daylight saving time, the sun rises and sets more slowly. According to polls, most Americans don't like changing clocks twice a year.
Marco Rubio, has been one of the strongest proponents of abolishing winter time, arguing that Americans should not have to suffer the loss of sleep or the inconvenience of changing clocks twice a year.
Brighter afternoons, he argued, would make people more productive, rested and happier.
What a Danish study showed about changing the time
In a study conducted in 2017 in Denmark, scientists analyzed a psychiatric database of more than 185,000 people from 1995 to 2012.
They found that a change in winter time is associated with an 11% increase in depressive episodes, and the negative effect takes 10 weeks to be eliminated.
Worse choice is daylight saving time?
According to the US newspaper report, scientists with expertise in sleep on the one hand agree with the Senate that the time should not be changed, but on the other hand some of them think it would be better to keep winter rather than summer time.
What's the danger
In a statement issued by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), it says the move to keep the country on daylight saving time overlooks potential health risks associated with this particular time system. The rationale behind AASM's proposal is that winter time is more closely linked to the circadian rhythm (biological clock) of humans and that its disruption, as is the case with daylight saving time, has been associated with an increased risk of obesity, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease and depression.
What the EU had proposed
The European Union, for its part, had proposed in September 2018 to abolish daylight saving time in 2019.
But in March 2019, the European Parliament voted in favour of postponing this change until 2021.
Since then, with the pandemic crisis, the issue remains pending. In our country, however, no decision has yet been taken to prevent the clock hands from changing again in October.
Source: in.gr
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