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Louise Julig's avatar

This is encouraging. The change to later start times in CA came too late for my daughter but I’m glad people are seeing the benefits. Now we just have to make sure Congress doesn’t try to put the country on permanent Daylight Saving Time, which would essentially negate all this good work by making the sun come up an hour later from November to March. There’s no free sunshine! If you add it to the end of the day you rob it from the morning, making kids and teens have to get up in the dark. No bueno!

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Together Across Differences's avatar

thank you for commenting! As a sleep doctor, I've been involved in the clock change debate and there are definitely health benefits to getting morning light on our sleep, mood, and heart and brain health. Standard Time optimizes that morning light, aligning our biological rhythms, especially for kids who have early school start times and people who have to be at their jobs early (police, small business owners, health care professionals). The tradeoff is wanting to engage in social activities in the evening but once we get into the late spring/summer, there's more light for those activities, even on Standard Time. You can read more here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36156090/

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Louise Julig's avatar

Is there any way to get the full text of this paper? The link seems to just be to an abstract.

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Louise Julig's avatar

That did it! Thanks — I look forward to reading it.

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