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2 min read
G.I. CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW
The air isn't great, the lettuce is worse. Health news is having a week. 😷 If your nervous system is craving fewer alerts and a little more birdsong, I support this. That said, some stuff you should know…
DING DONG, THE SWITCH IS DEAD
🌞 Congress passed the Sunshine Protection Act this week to eliminate the twice-yearly clock change and make daylight saving time permanent. Sadly, the sunshine didn’t really need protecting. Trump says:
“It’s time that people can stop worrying about the ‘Clock,’ not to mention all of the work and money that is spent on this ridiculous, twice-yearly production. It will also be a very nice WIN for the Republican Party. Take it! We are going with the far more popular alternative, Saving Daylight, which gives you a longer, brighter Day — And who can be against that — This is an easy one!”
Au contraire, say sleep researchers.
The AMA, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, and most researchers in the field wanted the opposite: permanent standard time, NOT daylight saving, which delivers less benefit.
The reason: Light in the morning makes you sleepy earlier. Light at night makes you sleepy later. Permanent DST steals dawn and adds dusk.
We’ve run this experiment before. When Nixon signed permanent DST into law in 1974, public support plummeted. Congress reversed it, largely over kids walking to school in the dark. 😱
✅ So yes, we finally agree the clock changes are ridiculous... and we may still pick the biologically worse one.
TUNE UP
Don’t let Congress clean your clock. Get outside within 30 minutes of waking, no sunglasses, 10 minutes minimum. It does more for your circadian rhythm than any bill ever could (about time).
JOY BOMB
Speaking of heroes of the morning light, please enjoy this video of big men struggling through tiny movements. A perfect tribute to honor the recent loss of Ms. Bonnie Tyler, matron saint of the 80s power ballad. 💔 Happy weekend, all!
I’m completely on board with ending the twice-yearly clock-changing nonsense, but choosing permanent daylight saving time feels like fixing the right problem with the wrong solution. Dark winter mornings are brutal enough already—especially for kids heading to school. Thanks for explaining the biology so clearly and, as always, giving us something practical to do while Congress messes with our clocks. Morning light it is! ☀️