It is that time of year again to “spring forward” as Texans reset their clocks to daylight saving time next Sunday.
Daylight saving time (DST) is the practice by which standard time shifts forward by an hour during the summer months. Timepieces are reset to standard time in autumn. Texans recalibrated their clocks to “fall back” on November 5 last year as DST came to an end, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
The idea behind DST is that it allows better use of natural daylight, as the Almanac explained. Moving the clock forward in the spring results in more daylight during the spring and summer evenings, while returning to standard time in autumn allows more daylight during fall and winter mornings.
The official time to reset the clock is at 2 a.m. on March 10, though many folks opt to make the change before going to bed the night before. The sun will rise at approximately 7:43 a.m. on March 10 and set at about 7:31 p.m., according to Time and Date. com.
Texans will transition back to standard time later this year on Sunday, November 3.
Some scientists who studied the effect of the time transition on the human body concluded that it is not well-aligned with one’s circadian rhythm, increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, and other conditions. However, a study published in February by the Mayo Clinic found that “DST transitions are unlikely to meaningfully impact the rate of cardiovascular events.”
“We looked at five years across the U.S., and what we found is that it’s unlikely that there is a clinically meaningful difference in cardiovascular health due to daylight saving time,” said Benjamin Satterfield, lead author of the study, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Although the study documented 74,722 adverse events during the research, Satterfield described these as “common health conditions.”
The twice-yearly time transition has been a topic of debate for quite some time, with most people preferring to leave the clock unchanged year-round, according to a 2021 poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Last year, the Texas House of Representatives voted 136-5 in favor of House Bill 1422, which would have mandated the observance of DST year-round in Texas, effectively ending the twice-a-year time change, as previously reported by The Dallas Express. However, that bill failed to become law, as it never saw the light of day on the Senate floor.
Twenty states have enacted legislation or passed resolutions to maintain daylight saving time year-round, dependent upon Congressional approval, as Fox 4 KDFW reported: Alabama, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
Lawmakers introduced bills in the U.S. House and in the U.S. Senate in 2023 to make daylight saving time permanent nationwide, but neither bill made it out of committee.
