2024-09-06 19:10:02
Most Americans have to change their clocks twice a year: on the second Sunday in March when they go forward one hour for daylight saving time and again on the first Sunday in November when they drop back one hour to their original position.
However, there are notable exceptions to this rule, as two U.S. states and five territories either entirely or largely keep their clocks set to the same time throughout the year.
Daylight saving time is not observed in Hawaii or Arizona, with the exception of the Navajo Nation, which also covers parts of New Mexico and Utah.
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Similarly, the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands maintain the same time throughout the year.
For states and territories near the equator, such as Hawaii and Puerto Rico, the change in sunlight between seasons is much less intense than further north, negating much of the purpose for changing between standard time and daylight saving time.
Tododisca, a health-focused website, said most of Arizona decided not to implement daylight saving time because of the state’s “extremely hot climate.” The outlet added that “by not moving the clocks forward or backward, the state minimizes exposure to heat during the hottest parts of the day, which results in reduced energy consumption for cooling.”
According to the Department of Defense, Congress passed the Standard Time Act in 1918, which sought to allow “additional daylight hours to be added into the day to help save energy costs during World War I.” The act was later repealed, though another daylight saving time act was passed in 1942 “to help conserve fuel” and “promote national security and defense” during World War II.
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In 1966, Congress passed the Uniform Time Act, establishing daylight saving time across the nation from the last Sunday in April to the close of October, but Hawaii and most of Arizona opted out.
The DOD website said: “Portions of the law have been changed a few times since, including to the dates when the ‘spring’ forward and ‘fall’ back happen.
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“The current policy was implemented by President George W. Bush in 2005, extending daylight saving time by a few weeks. It now starts on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November.”
INA FASSBENDER/AFP/GETTY
However, daylight saving time remains controversial. In 2020, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine published a statement in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine calling for it to be abolished.
“The U.S. should eliminate seasonal time changes in favor of a national, fixed, year-round time,” the organization said.
“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,” it added.
In May, the PLOS Computational Biology journal published an investigation titled “Measurable health effects associated with the daylight saving time shift,” which said, “The transition to daylight saving time (DST) is beneficial for energy conservation but at the same time it has been reported to increase the risk of cerebrovascular and cardiovascular problems.”
Still, almost 20 states have passed legislation or resolutions calling for the summertime hours to be made permanent, beginning with Florida in 2018. These proposed changes cannot take place without congressional approval.
