“Spring forward, fall back” is what many people say when we move our clocks twice a year. Changing our clocks brings up many risk factors in various areas, and many people don’t like having the responsibility of changing them. Changing clocks is also found annoying for many Americans. The changes we make twice a year mess up our circadian rhythm. In an article last modified on May 1st, 2023 by Sujana Reddy on the website of The National Library of Medicine entitled “Physiology, Circadian Rhythm” details how our circadian rhythm is our internal clock that manages our mental, physical, and behavioral changes over a cycle of a day. Its greatest influences are light and darkness, food intake, temperature, and physical activity. The switch between daylight saving time and standard time interferes with almost all those things. Some of the most common reasons why people don’t want to change their clocks anymore are because of how unpopular it is, health issues, traffic accidents, and how our pets are affected. 

First, daylight saving time is disliked by many. Only two states do not participate in daylight saving time in the US. These states are Hawaii and Arizona and for a good reason. CBS News reports with an article named “The 2 states that don't do daylight saving — and how they got rid of time changes for good” By Aliza Chasan, last updated on: March 9, 2024, says that when the state of Arizona moves the clocks forward, giving them an extra hour of daylight, it makes residents stay outside in the heat for longer. Hawaii doesn’t change its clocks due to the state is close enough to the equator where it gets enough sun year round. According to US Newsstream, an article published on November 6th, 2023, describes how changing our clocks twice a year costs around 1.7 billion dollars. That number is slowly decreasing as more people have clocks that reset themselves using technology. But since resetting clocks is a pain, the federal law does not allow a permanent daylight saving time change. 19 states in previous years have passed resolutions or laws to make daylight saving time stay if Congress allows. Most Americans want to stay on daylight saving and make it the new standard time, as they favor more hours of sunlight in the evenings.  This could lead to some good things because changing the clocks is a risk factor for our health. 

Secondly, moving forward our clocks mostly affect elders and kids, yet teenagers experience problems too. Fortune Well, an article published on their website on March 9th, 2024 entitled “Daylight Saving Time is Hurting Your Health - Heres How”  states that teens have slower reaction times, are sleepier, and have more trouble paying attention in their classes after the time change. The health risks mostly include increased risk of cardiovascular events, strokes, mood disturbances, hospital admissions, inflammatory proteins that help the body manage stress, and other incidents. The recommended way to not throw the body's circadian rhythms sleep cycle off track is to go to bed 20 minutes earlier each night and wake up earlier. The loss of sleep to elders can make chronic health conditions worse, and children have more of a hard time adjusting their bodies to the time change. This can have effects on our everyday life, even on the road. 

Next, around 15-20% of traffic accidents happen around daylight savings time when we lose an hour of sleep. 6% of those accidents are fatal. An article by Charbonnet Law Firm, published March 20th, 2024 by James S. Rees IV named “How Does Daylight Saving Time Affect Car Accident Rates?” assesses that the slower reaction times and poor judgment from the lack of sleep greatly affects drivers. Most of the accidents happen more in the west, where it stayes darker out longer, or in the evening and at night, when people have to stay awake longer. About a week after the time change accident numbers start to go down as our bodies adjust. The fatigue that drivers get is unsafe for themselves and others on the road, which is yet another reason why changing our clocks isn’t a good thing. 

Another thing is that pets are also affected by this change. Animal Emergency and Referal Center of Minnesota has an article by Frank Swartzel entitled “How Daylight Saving Time Affects Your Pets” explaining how our furry friends are involved. Dog's and cat's internal clock is influenced by light. This can include either sunlight or the lights that people have in their houses. The change of having to wait an extra hour to eat, getting fed early, and even losing and gaining an extra hour of sleep puts stress on their bodies. Most can adapt within a week without many side effects, but those include an upset stomach. Dogs especially have a daily routine and stick with it, and they mainly build their routine around us, as their owners. So a good way to help dogs adjust is to make sure that we humans are adjusting to the change well, and so will the pets. Younger animals always have the most trouble with this change.

Finally, the unpopularity, health factors,  traffic accidents, and how our pets respond are all bad results of daylight saving time. An article from CBS News by Cara Tabachnick published on March 8th, 2024 titled “Why was daylight saving time started? Here's what you need to know.” implies that there were rumors about who started daylight saving time. Benjamin Franklin, William Willet, and George Hudson are the three men who most likely brought up the idea for us to change our clocks. The first clock change was in 1916, and the goal was to limit artificial light. This is why these days, with more technology it isn’t lowering the costs of electricity or even saving it for people, and that was its original purpose. Since we don’t utilize the switch between standard time and daylight saving time, it is getting almost useless. That is why with the through unpopularity of daylight saving time, the health risk factors, and accidents on the road caused by fatigue from the time change: we aren’t saving anything when it comes to changing our clocks.