This Sunday morning Virginians will spring ahead as daylight saving time begins.
President Richard Nixon famously suspended the change but reports of injuries to school children and the Watergate scandal sent the idea to the dustbin for decades. But President Donald Trump and Virginia legislators have raised the issue recently, and some science may be on their side.
Nobody likes to lose an hour of sleep, but we’ll all do so this weekend. That is unless President Donald Trump, or even some Virginia legislators get their way.
"The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time" Trump wrote on social media back in December. (Trump recently backed off the issue, though). And in Richmond, Delegate Joe McNamara submitted a bill weeks later that would have had Virginia join Arizona and Hawaii in not observing the clock change.
That bill was never given a hearing, but in 2018 Delegate Nick Freitas’s similar bill did.
“This is quite possibly the most important bill you’re going to hear today,” Freitas said, perhaps half jokingly, about his bill which would have had Virginia make a kind of local compact:
“When the states around Virginia, as well as DC, when they all agree to go away from this horrible time oppression, we call daylight saving time, we will also follow suit as well and go back to standard," he said.
The bill never got off the ground, but Dr. Deepa Burman with the Pediatric Sleep Evaluation Center at the University of Pittsburgh said new research might be on Frietas’ side.
She said chances of heart attacks, strokes and car accidents all increase a bit during daylight saving. And the US economy can lose up to 600 million dollars a year from tired or absent employees.
Burman says there are steps you can take to soften the blow, including limiting light in line with standard time.
“Making sure you close your blinds, maybe even having room darkening curtains, and early morning exercise can help you set your rhythm," Burman said. "And also adjusting your mealtimes to the timings that help you stay awake during the day and fall asleep at night.”
Clocks roll forward early Sunday morning.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
