Why the senate passed a bill to make day light saving time permanent

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) - The US Senate approved the Sunshine Protection Act, a bill that would make daylight saving time permanent. Now it needs to be approved by the House of Representatives before it can be signed into law.

Dr. Rajesh Harrykissoon who specializes in Pulmonary Medicine and Sleep Medicine at Baylor, Scott, & White, joined First News at Four to discuss why this might benefit people’s quality of sleep.

A benefit of making daylight saving time permanent would be the regularization of people’s schedules.

“Instead of having these changes where we have to adapt to it, our bodies can have a regular pattern day in and day out,” explained Harrykissoon.

According to Harrykissoon the one hour shift varies in terms of impact. Some people may be a little tired or perceive minor effect from it, and others might see more significant effects. Besides tiredness, disruptions to a sleep schedule can cause slowness of thought and slowness of reaction time, which can have some translation into employee’s productivity at work.

For anyone who is having trouble getting a good night’s sleep, Harrykissoon recommends having a set bedtime and a set wake time. Whatever time people wake up, feeling rested and refreshed without the aid of an alarm, that is how much sleep they require.

“Whether that’s four hours nightly for some people or nine hours for others, it’s very individualized, but it tends to be consistent for an individual,” he explained.

Watch the full interview in the player above.

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