When it comes to clocks, just leave them alone

With inflation, a pandemic and the possibility of World War III on the horizon, daylight saving time seems like a trivial thing for lawmakers to concern themselves with.

On the other hand, if you’re awake enough after the time change to think about it, consider that this might be the perfect time to do something about it.

While international relations, graduate-level virology and macroeconomics may be beyond our grasp, we should be able to reach a consensus on sleep.

An overwhelming majority of the Unicameral seems to have reached just such a consensus, advancing Sen. Tom Briese’s LB283, which would do away with falling back and leave us on what is now daylight saving time.

Monday, the bill was advanced to select file 40-3, but has to pass two more votes before reaching the governor’s desk. Even if it becomes law, it won’t go into effect until either federal law is changed or three bordering states follow suit.

Nineteen states, including neighboring Wyoming, already have similar laws, and DST isn't observed in Hawaii, most of Arizona, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam or the Northern Marianas.

Briese points to negative health outcomes, decreases in economic activity, medical costs resulting from sick days, heart attacks, strokes, workplace injuries, car accidents and “simple decreased efficiency at work as sufficient cause to jettison the semi-annual exercise.

Opponents like Bayard Sen. Steve Erdman point out that the sun wouldn’t rise in Lincoln until after 8 a.m. on many winter mornings, making it more dangerous for young people going to school.

Many voters “would like us to pick one and stick with it,” supporter Sen. Mike Moser of Columbus said.

That’s just what one Iowa psychologist is advocating, albeit in the direction opposite to the one proposed in LB283.

Dr. Marla Shapiro, who treats sleep disorders in children, says standard time would be healthier for kids, especially if school was to be delayed to 8:30 a.m. for middle and high school students.

Staying with standard time, and abolishing daylight saving time, better aligns with natural sleep/wake cycles and internal hormonal functioning with morning/evening light exposure, she says.

We agree with Sen. Moser’s constituents, “pick one and stick with it.”

If it is truly more convenient for schools or businesses to open and close at a different time in summer or winter, they are free to do so.

Just leave the rest of us and our circadian rhythms alone.