Key Points
As countries including the United States, Canada and Cuba prepare to set clocks back an hour on Nov. 5 as daylight saving time ends, debate is once again emerging in the U.S. over whether and how to end this practice...
Daylight saving time is the practice of moving clocks forward by one hour during summer months so daylight lasts longer into the evening..
The practice went through many variations before the U.S. standardized it in 1966 in the Uniform Time Act, which allows states to opt out of it but not to stay on daylight saving time permanently.. A common myth is that the U.S. adopted daylight saving time to benefit farmers, but in reality many farmers are opposed to the practice for being disruptive to their schedules...
Opponents point to other studies that have found adverse health effects linked to daylight saving time, such as a spike in fatal traffic accidents, heart attacks, strokes and sleep deprivation in the days after clocks are moved forward an hour every March...
The act, which a bipartisan group of senators introduced in 2022, was passed unanimously by voice vote but stalled in the U.S. House of Representatives because lawmakers could not agree on whether to keep standard time or permanent daylight saving time, said Representative Frank Pallone in March...
