The clocks are ticking toward the end of Daylight Saving Time. On Sunday morning, they will move back an hour.
This controversial practice is one Washington lawmakers have been trying to get rid of for years.
“It’s an antiquated idea,” said Mark Engel, who is tired of the time changes. “It was set up for the times when we were working in the fields.”
It’s a pain for some, but others just don’t care.
“I’m self-employed, so I don’t have a hard time keeping up my schedule,” Julia Simons said.
In 2019, the state passed a law that would permanently make it Daylight Saving Time year-round. The law never took effect because it is banned at the federal level to do so.
A sleep expert told KIRO 7 it would have been disastrous.
“That would be a huge mistake,” Dr. Nathaniel Watson said. “The sun wouldn’t come up in the winter until well past 9 a.m. and, of course, this would be permanent jetlag forever for the population.”
Watson, a neurologist who co-directs the University of Washington sleep center, recommends instead that it permanently become standard time, which we are set to switch to this weekend, because it better lines up with the body’s natural rhythms.
Washington lawmakers tried that back in 2024, but the effort stalled out.
“Sleep and circadian health touches basically every aspect of human physiology,” Watson said.
Watson said the time changes and the sleep disruptions that come with them cause an increase in heart attacks, strokes, diabetes and depression, especially when time springs forward.
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