What Would Life Be Like If Illinois Stopped Changing Clocks?

Since we're dealing with hypotheticals here, I should remind you that we'll still do the "Spring Forward," routine (adjust our clocks ahead by one hour) on Sunday, March 8th. Maybe someday we'll put all of this twice-annual clock changing behind us for good, but for now just keep doing what you've been doing.

Just imagine setting your clock once (when you buy it and put it where you want it) and then never having to think about it again unless there's some sort of power outage or the batteries go dead. Think about it...no springing forward or falling back unless you're describing your reclining chair.

To quote the Beach Boys, wouldn't that be nice?

I guess one thing would be certain if we stopped changing our clocks twice a year here in Illinois: We'd have one (or two, if you count two clock changes) less things to complain about in this state. A move like that will cut our list of complaints down to things like:

• Corruption
• High taxes on property, gas, income, etc.
• Outbound migration
• Crime
• Bad roads and bridges
• Did I mention corruption?

There are more Illinois-centric complaints that I could add to the list, but that would take up all the space I have, and this was supposed to be about what would happen if we stopped changing our clocks twice a year. Sorry, I got sidetracked.

To Properly Answer The Question Of What Would Happen If Illinois Stopped Changing Our Clocks, We Have To Look At Some Numbers

When we spring forward on Sunday, March 8th of this year, the first thing you may notice is that the sun begins rising later.. On Saturday, March 7th, sunrise will be at 6:16am. On March 8th, the day we move our clocks forward, sunrise will happen at 7:15am.

On March 7th, sunset will be at 5:47pm, on March 8th it'll be at 6:48pm. When spring turns to summer, we'll see sunrises as early as 5:15am, and sunsets as late as 8:30pm. That's what our daylight periods would look like year round if we adopted permanent Daylight Saving Time (DST).

If we stayed on DST year round here in Illinois, wintertime sunrises would come after 8am, but the sun would never set before 5pm. For some, that sounds great, but many health care professionals are against permanent DST.

Here's The Difference If Illinois Stopped Changing Clocks And Stuck With Permanent Standard Time...

In Illinois during the summer, we'd be looking at sunrises as early as 4:15am, and the latest sunset time coming in at 7:30pm.

Here's the thing. Most everyone really likes a late sunset, but that's really the only thing permanent DST would provide that's worthwhile.

You don't have to take my word for it, here's what the American Medical Association has to say about clock changing, and whether DST or Standard time is the best choice:

In a position statement published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) is unequivocal in advocating elimination of daylight saving time, the practice of setting clocks ahead one hour between mid-March and early November.

“The U.S. should eliminate seasonal time changes in favor of a national, fixed, year-round time,” says the position statement, adding that “current evidence best supports the adoption of year-round standard time, which aligns best with human circadian biology and provides distinct benefits for public health and safety.”